Missing Moments
by myfriendfiction
Summary: This is a series of one shots about scenes I would have liked to have seen on Parks or extended scenes. Mostly involves Ben and Leslie. The scenes will not be in order. For ex: What happened after their first kiss or Andy teaching Ben to French braid Sonia's hair.
1. After the Breakup

I always wonder what conversation we didn't get to see between Leslie and Ann after the breakup would have looked like. I kept thinking about it and this story happened.

**After the Breakup: aka Leaning on Your Beautiful Tropical Fish BFF and Devouring Waffle Sundaes And Trying to Find The Perfect Post Breakup Movie**

"Oh, Ann," Leslie said as she opened her front door and saw her best friend standing before her.

"Hey, Leslie," Ann replied her face full of sorrow and her hands full of things Leslie would later dub "Ann Perkins Supportive Golden Retriever Break Up Kit."

After laying down her items in the kitchen Ann turned around, facing Leslie, and reached her arms out to the woman.

Surprising Leslie didn't budge.

"Hug?" Ann asked.

"Oh, Ann. If I hug you I may crush you or never let go."

:"I'll take my chances," Ann offered before Leslie stepped into her embrace.

"Do I smell waffles?" Leslie asked.

"Would I come on a "Cheer Up Leslie Mission" without waffles? This is phase one: food, comfort, talking, vows of revenge, and moping. Now you go change into your pj's, get your favorite blanket, some tissues, the remote, and meet me on your couch."

A few minutes later as Ann was finishing laying out the waffle sundae spread on Leslie's coffee table, which was thankfully rather clear for a change, Leslie entered the living room offering Ann a soft green blanket and keeping one of those anniversary blankets every town sells to commemorate the event for herself.

"Waffle Sundaes, Ann. Waffles Sundaes. Oh, you beautiful tropical fish."

"Yeah, well, the waffles are from JJ's, your fav, and in every chick flick and tv show ever made after a breakup the best friend comes over with ice cream and ice cream is delicious so why not combine both," Ann said before letting out a deep breath after her long explanation.

After the waffle sundaes were made, Leslie's with extra extra everything and the two women positioned on the couch facing each other, Ann with the blanket covering her lap and Leslie with the blanket around shoulders, Ann finally brought up the reason she was there.

"So I got pretty concerned when you only left me one text message. How did it go? If you want to talk about it."

"Oh Ann. He broke up with me."

"What? That jerk. You were going to breakup with him even though you didn't want to but he decided to end things. What, did he no longer have enough time to devote to watching Star Trek? I'm gonna go find him and beat him down. I could take that skinny little body," Ann exclaimed standing up.

"NO. No, No," Leslie exclaimed waving her hands around and standing up. "It wasn't like that. He broke up with me so that I didn't have to do it."

Both women sat back down and picked back up their waffles sundaes. Ann looked rather perplexed so Leslie explained further.

"He figured out that I had been tapped to run for office. I talk in my sleep and there was a guy in the ladies yacht club and we live in Southern Indiana," Leslie explained.

It began to make sense to Ann but she was still confused by the whole yacht club thing.

"The other night at the restaurant that box he had with him held a campaign button that he made. Knope 2012," Leslie said pulling the button out of her sweatshirt pocket to show Ann.

Confusion slowly left Ann's face while sympathy flooded back in.

"He had figured out that I was being vetted to run for office not too long after I was presented with the opportunity. We were both waiting as long as possible to end things because we wanted it to last as long as possible. Oh, Ann. It was the sweetest most romantic breakup ever," Leslie finished speaking with a sad smile on her face though her eyes held a dreamy look as though they were looking upon something happy far away.

"Wow. That is a romantic break up. I didn't know breakups could be romantic. Although I also didn't know breakups could be done so nicely that the break upee would have no clue that breaking up had been done. I've learned a lot about breakups this year," Ann stated furrowing her eyebrows.

"When he pulled out that pin, Ann, I was like…Crap on a spatula! Actually I was feeling stronger then that. I was more like, f**k. F**k! I was just… The fact that someone, that he, would do that for me…," Leslie started to say but stopped.

If Leslie had continued speaking Ann would have heard Leslie say that in that moment Leslie thought that she just might have fallen in love with Ben Wyatt.

"He also has really good campaign button making design skills," Leslie commented breaking up the silence.

A pause in the conversation broke both women out of their thoughts and made them turn their focus back to their now melting waffles sundaes. For Leslie to not scarf down a waffle sundae in warp speed Ann knew that Leslie was really down in the dumps. Ann then shared her breakup stories like Leslie had once done about a year before. Of course, Ann didn't have too many embarrassing or heart breaking breakup stories but Leslie appreciated the sentiment behind it.

After phase one had run it's course it was onto phase two: making light of the effects of the breakup and finding hope but ending up moping again while drinking cheap wine.

Leslie was now pacing on the other side of the coffee table while Ann sat on the couch. Sarah McLachlan played in the background.

"We weren't together for that long. It was a secret relationship. I'll be okay. We were going to have to breakup anyways. I mean what other option did we have. It wouldn't have been feasible and it was a huge risk. When we started we decided that we would date in secret and if we made it to six months we would revaluate. But then what would we have done? We both love our jobs and would still be in a secret forbidden relationship. I'm not the type of person to risk my job for a guy and that's exactly what I was doing. I mean, yes it felt good. It was great to actually feel really good about a guy and to continue feeling great after the bubble burst. Is he a great man? Yes. Did I look forward to seeing and talking to him everyday? Yes. Was he the best at "bed room stuff" I ever had? Yes. Could I imagine taking off on Airforce One with him and a secret service detail? Maybe that image formed in my mind once or twice, kind of," Leslie finally took a breath. Leslie then sat back down on the couch next to Ann, who was waiting to see if Leslie was finished speaking as she had been on quite a roll.

"There was no easy way out. I guess it worked out. It's a good thing that I got this opportunity to run for office now because ending things now would've been much easier then later when we were just further in. I just need to look on the bright side.

"Yeah. Yeah, that's true," Ann rationalized alongside Leslie, "It's just that you were so bummed that you had to breakup with him and you guys were really cute together. As a single girl with no dating prospects on the horizon you two were a bit nauseating."

"We were nauseating," Leslie said putting her hand over heart," That's so sweet."

"You're welcome."

"Also," Ann supplied, "You risked your job over the Harvest Festival because you believed in it. You risked your job to be with Ben because you believed that you two had something worth exploring. That's significant Leslie. It's okay to be upset about this."

After a long sip of wine Leslie loudly groaned.

"I really like him Ann. Usually my professional life is on track. It's going well despite the curveballs thrown by Pawnee's worst citizens. My romantic life is usually non existent or in shambles. I'm usually okay with that. I can deal. But Ben is so sweet and cute and funny and nice. Nice, Ann, nice. We like the same things. All those nights cuddling and drinking wine while watching History Channel documentaries. Also, if I might be so bold as to say, wink wink if you get what I mean," Leslie said while winking, poorly, and literally saying the words wink wink.

"I get it Leslie. You don't have to say wink wink," Ann said hurriedly but then softened and leaned in after a sip of wine, "So was there anything special he did or like why do you think the sex was so much better?"

"Nothing in particular. Just like, I don't know. He's very polite and generous though he can be a very intense person. And with him, I wasn't like thinking as much about other stuff as I usually do," Leslie said all of this while narrowing her eyes in remembrance and bringing her hand up to her collarbone. "I also really felt like his equal. Like the first time we were both so nervous and awkward and also I imagine having a secret forbidden affair with months of sexual tension over documents really helps. He also does a great Reagan," Leslie said leaning in and letting out a long sigh.

That last statement in particular made Ann pause in confusion.

"Alright, let's get to phase three of this operation. According to Hollywood we women now have to watch a movie. Either a romantic comedy to make us feel jealous of other women who eventually after several missteps get the guy and also it could make us feel hopeful that we could be that girl one day. Or, a really sad movie with a tragic ending so we can get all the tears out," Ann then reached on the floor behind herself pulling up a bag filled with DVD's.

"I went to the rental place and got some options. Options one, Wuthering Heights, they're all miserable. Two and three, Beaches or Terms of Endearment, they're all sad. Four, The First Wives Club, they get revenge. Five, Under the Tuscan Sun, she goes to Italy. Six, My Best Friends Wedding, because Julia Roberts and love could be right in front of you. Seven, eight, and nine: You've Got Mail, Sleepless in Seattle, and When Harry Met Sally. Meg Ryan Standards. Option ten, The American President, you love that movie," Ann said smiling

"Oh, Ann. Ben and I watched that movie and we took notes about secret political love affairs which I put into my SSSGEFR binder," Leslie methodically stated.

"I'm gonna need you to explain that."

"SSSGEFR: Super Secret Scandulous Governmental Ethically Forbidden Relationship," Leslie said as if it were a no brainer.

"I have that binder hidden in my laundry room with a false cover that says Middle School Paperwork."

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you'd have a SS whatever binder," Ann replied.

Alright, option eleven, Bridges of Maddison County because Meryl Steep is amazing."

"Hmmm."

"And the twelfth and final option is Hoosiers because this is Indiana and they have 25 copies of that movie at the rental place and they practically forced me to rent it even though I said I wasn't interested. They said I was unpatriotic if I didn't take it."

"Underdogs and the greatest state in America, Ann."

"So what's it going to be?"

"Let's make it Bridges of Maddison County. Clint Eastwood is a fox in that movie."

"Okay," Ann said forcing a smile on her face. She just didn't get Leslie's thing for greying men.

"Also, how did they let you check out more than three movies?" Leslie inquired.

"I had to flirt with the guy. And look at a mole on his back, the downside of being a nurse everyone wants you to look at weird stuff on their body. Though he ended up not even having a mole on his back. He just wanted me to look at his gross hairy back, I guess. He said the mole must've fallen off but that can't happen. Eww. I'm not looking forward to returning these movies."

"Alright, movie time!" Leslie shouted trying to not focus on Ann's gross nurse story.

"Am I bad person for choosing my career over a relationship?" Leslie asked. The movie was about half way over and besides the occasional comment the women had been silent.

"No. This is your dream. You've been working towards it for forever. Obviously Ben understood and supports you," Ann said to remind Leslie.

"You're right. I'm sure Ben and I will be able to still be friends and friendship is great. Better because we're not forbidden from being friends. So I can just, yeah I'll look forward to the day when we can be friends."

After the credits rolled, Leslie always insisted that the credits be played in their entirety otherwise she said it was, "disrespectful to the behind the scenes people", Ann poured some more wine and pulled out the first movie she and Leslie had ever watched together. The movie that they had to watch on their Anniversary of the First Movie We Watched Together Day. Tootsie.

"Ahh, Tootsie, Ann! This is the first movie you and I ever watched together. Remember the day I referenced it and you were like, "I love that movie," and then we talked about it and made plans to watch it," Leslie reminisced as she sat down with some freshly popped popcorn.

"I remember. How could I forget? That solidified out friendship. And I remember you volunteering us to dress up as guys dressing up as women in honor of the movie for that Women in the Workplace Seminar at City Hall and perform that skit you wrote."

"Good times, Ann."

"Yep."

After the credits rolled, in their entirety, the wine glasses were put in the sink, a shopping trip to Indy was planned to buy Leslie a "Running for Office" pant suit, and a goodbye hug was given Leslie was alone with her thoughts, and several birdhouses because she could just never get rid of all those birdhouses. Leslie crawled into bed looking through her SSSGEFR binder reminiscing. Tomorrow she decided she would be okay. If she didn't feel okay tomorrow then she'd pretend things were okay. She'd fake it until she made it. And Leslie knew they would be okay. She was a grown woman with a good head on her shoulders. She had survived plenty of breakups and she was confident she and Ben could be friends soon. They still had work after all and plenty of things in common. She'd focus on the campaign and maybe finally organize her closets. Her dreams were starting to come true, career wise at least, and screw Aunt Rose who patronizingly would be asking if Leslie would have a plus one for Christmas dinner.

**How was it? I hope you enjoyed. This is my first Parks story. Please review. Did I get the character's voices right? My goal was to explain Leslie's pov dealing with the breakup, did I succeed? Let me know so I can improve as a writer and story teller. Thanks for reading!**


	2. When Jessica Wicks Called Ben Sugar Butt

**That Time Leslie Learned that Jessica Wicks Calls Ben Sugar Butt**

_My take on how Leslie would have responded to Jessica Wicks' compliment of Ben's now infamous behind. _

"It was nice seeing you Leslie."

"Yep, sure it was," Leslie replied trying to not sound to sarcastic but not really carrying all that much.

"Well toodaloo Leslie. Hey sugar butt," Jessica Wicks Newport exclaimed as she exited the room passing by her former employee Ben Wyatt.

"What? Did Jessica Wicks just called you sugar butt?" a disturbed Leslie asked but then began talking again before Ben could answer, "Some other woman is calling my husband "sugar butt". Huh, I'm kind of bummed I didn't think of sugar butt. I mean I love sugar. I love your butt. Sugar butt. It's kind of a no brainer."

"She called me that once when I worked for her. I thought she was talking to her dog at first. She has weird nicknames for everyone, like she called her assistant Ginger Snap and her CFO Summer Love Bug. " Ben eyed Leslie incredulously, "You're not going to start calling me that are you?"

"No. No my sexy little elf king," Leslie said as she closed the distance between them and gently grabbed Ben's tie running it through her hands. "You know I don't agree with Jessica Wicks on much. I don't enjoy my encounters with her. She's usually trying to destroy everything I stand for. And she says I can't pull of lime green. Ann says that too but I don't want to hear Jessica say that. I wore a lot of lime green in the 90s. Anyways, I guess we do have common ground on one key issue," Leslie waxed on poetically.

"You're going to say my butt aren't you? You two can agree on my…", "Butt," Leslie said finishing Ben's sentence for him as she grinned. (They didn't even need to rehearse that.)

"I should send Jessica that slideshow I created and tried to send The Huffington Post. I've updated it recently and turned it into a listicle for Buzzfeed. But you know what Jessica is missing out on seeing?"

"My….." "Calves," Leslie interjected.

"Okay. Ready to go," Ben said with a slight smile as he turned back towards the door, Leslie hooking her arm in his.

But of course as they walked out of the doorway Leslie couldn't resist taking a second or two to grab Ben's butt and although this was certainly not the first time and it certainly would not be the last time he was still surprised. For Ben, the failed teen mayor, had never had someone be so into him. It was actually more than just that simple fact. In the past he had had a hard time believing and trusting in the good things that came his way and that those good things would stay. He knew he was blessed, that he had found her and that after five years together, countless career changes, the hiding veggies in her waffles and maple syrup disaster of last month, and triplets she was still crazy about him and he about her. And while he now could fully embrace the good things that came his way that "failed teen mayor" part inside of himself, that would always be at least a little piece of himself, no matter how many years would pass. So he'd always be pleasantly surprised when Leslie gave him one of her goofball but loving compliments or when his kids said he was the best dad in the world wearing the widest smile they could fit on their little faces. Ben Wyatt, failed teen mayor, had a great life. Better than he ever thought he could have or deserved and he loved every second of it. Sometimes he was just baffled that it happened to him, that he was the guy with the great life.


	3. French Braiding 101

_We all saw the video of Chris Pratt French Braiding hair and wanted to see Andy doing it on Parks and Rec. And if it involved a certain little blonde girl all the better. Here's my version….._

**French Braiding 101**

"Ok, now put the hair in your left hand," Andy instructed.

"Ok, wait you have it in your right hand," Ben noted confused.

"Oh, sorry. I meant right hand. I forgot to do my test. When you hold your hand up and make an L the L in the correct direction is left and the other one is right."

"Yeah."

"What's his name taught me that, uh your kid with glasses taught me that."

"Can we get back to braiding?" the blonde haired little girl lamented.

"Ok, so then transfer the hair to your other hand and just do the same thing back and forth," Andy said as he demonstrated on the large doll head in front of him while Ben tried to imitate on his daughter's hair.

"Ok, all done," Ben nervously stated as he secured the hair band.

"Dude, not bad," Andy congratulated Ben with a pat on the back.

"Look at me teaching you stuff," Andy playfully smirked.

Now it was time for the real test. That test was his eight year old daughter. She had high standards. She had insisted that Ben learn how to French Braid her hair because she didn't think, quote, "I shouldn't have to suffer with less hair styling options just because Mommy is away on business and you don't know how to French Braid hair. There's always something to learn." This earned an incredulous look from Ben who was confused by his daughter's attitude and surprise that she was using Ben's own words about there always being something to learn against him.

"Go look in the mirror," Ben told his daughter and off she skipped away.

"Thanks for teaching me, man. She always wants her hair French Braided and then when Leslie is out of town or goes in early she gets all pouty because I don't know how."

"By the way I never got the chance to ask, how did you learn to French Braid hair? This morning she said, "You should have Uncle Andy teach you how" I was surprised." Ben inquired.

"I learned that time I was a Pawnee Goddess. I got the badge for being the fastest braider. I also got a badge for best cuddle time with a puppy. I got the badge for tallest too! That was a great two hours."

As Andy finished the little girl benefiting from Andy's hair tutorial waltzed into the room and turned serious as she stood before her father and Uncle Andy.

"I approve," she said with much confidence as if she were a Congress woman approving a bill. Of course, she was eght so her face quickly broke into a big smile.

"I'm glad to hear it," Ben smiled back.

"So now you can French Braid my hair for school tomorrow, Daddy."

"I will certainly try," Ben replied pulling his daughter in for a hug.

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	4. Finding Confidence in Life's Decisons

**Finding Confidence in Life's Decisions While Eating Pudding**

_April has doubts about future plans and shows up at Ben and Leslie's house where she must confide in Ben while eating pudding because a house with three eleven year olds always has pudding. I actually wrote this before season 7 premiered but I just reworked it to align with season 7._

"April?" Ben questioned after walking into his bedroom to find the girl, well woman, laying in the bed with her back to him.

"What are you doing?" Ben asked as he put down the book he was holding. When he had turned on the light and saw someone laying in the bed he had picked up the nearest object on instinct to protect himself with. It happened to be the 532 page autobiography of Ted Kennedy.

He had just put the kids to bed and walked into his and Leslie's bedroom to find April moping.

"You were going to defend yourself with a book? I think that is the lamest thing I have ever seen you do," April quipped now sitting cross legged on the bed.

"So, did you break into my house just to insult me?"

"I came to speak to Leslie. Not about anything important really. Where is she? I went to see her at work but she had already left and I didn't break in. I have a key."

"She came home for a few hours and went back to work after dinner was over," Ben said catching his breath.

"Oh," April sighed looking miserable. Well, she looked miserable about 97% of the time but Ben had a feeling that she was truly feeling miserable tonight.

"I was waiting for Leslie. I was hoping this was her bedroom and that you two might have separate bedrooms or at least twin beds."

Ben just let that one go.

"Um, are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, you broke into my house and have been laying in the dark for I don't know how long," Ben replied.

April just sighed.

Ben, at a lost for what to do offered food because that's what he thought Leslie would do. So April and Ben found themselves in the kitchen eating pudding because with kids in the house there was always pudding.

Ben didn't know what to say so he said nothing. Well, he did start to mention something about Star Trek but didn't finish due to the glare April gave him.

After starting the second pudding cup April spoke up.

"Look you can be honest and direct. So tell me something. Do you think I would be a terrible mother?"? I'm just doing a survey to get a free t-shirt and the question really has nothing to do with me. So, would I be an awful mother?"

"No," Ben responded. His response had no hesitation. It was short and direct and to the point.

"Why?" April asked looking a bit surprised.

"Well, I trust you with the triplets. I've seen you with them and your great with them. They adore you and Andy. I don't know what we would've done without you two. You've taken good care of Champion. And while I still do your taxes and you and Andy still call me with simple questions, like "Is this milk spoiled? or "What channel is Law and Order On?" I believe you are both more than capable. Andy will be the most fun dad ever and no one will dare mess with your kid."

The truth was that Andy had been itching to have a kid for on and off for the last few years and April had finally agreed. They had been trying for about a year. That day at work the subject of kids had come up and everyone had assumed that April would never want to have kids and implied that she would be a terrifying mother. For the rest of the day that seed of doubt that had been planted had grown until she couldn't take it anymore. Their timing was like a knife in the heart. Earlier that morning, after a stop by the drug store on her way to work, April had taken a pregnancy test and it was positive. She was going to tell Andy when she got home from work that night. It had taken about a year to get pregnant and she had felt so relieved to finally see a positive test. She had wanted to take the test alone and surprise Andy with the news. However, her coworkers conversation had left her feeling insecure and she found herself waiting for Leslie, someone who always had confidence in her even when she didn't have it in herself.

"I haven't told Andy yet but since Andy knew about Leslie being pregnant before you knew I'll tell you first. I'm pregnant," April quickly said with the words spilling out of her mouth.

Ben was surprised that April would confide this in him. After a few seconds of surprise wore off Ben spoke, "Wow. Congrats. Andy is going to be ecstatic. I know he's wanted this for a while"

"Yeah. He's going to freak out," April smiled.

"Well, I'm gonna get going," April sheepishly announced and awkwardly made her way to the door with Ben following.

"Goodnight," April said and awkwardly gave Ben a hug before walking out the door.

"Goodnight," Ben replied shutting the door and thinking that he really needed to get that key back from April. It had been Leslie's idea to give April a key but she slipped into Ben and Leslie's house far to often for Ben's liking. He was pretty sure that April and Andy occasional went grocery shopping in their fridge while Ben and Leslie weren't home. He was also pretty sure that he had awoken to once find April standing over him and when he reached for the light she had dashed out of the room. When they were roommates, years ago, Ben had learned to sleep with the door locked due to April's impulse to creep Ben out and Andy's incessant questions and lack of the concept of privacy.

No sooner did Ben sit down on the living room couch to relax than a quiet voice broke the silence of the house, "Daddy, I woke up," a blonde girl sleepily whined.

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	5. Uh Oh

**"****Uh Oh"**

**_Explores: What happened after Ben and Leslie's first kiss in Road Trip? How did they decide to start a secret relationship? What was their first time like? _**

"Uh oh."

"I…I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I should not have done that or assumed…" Ben stuttered out.

"No, no, no, no," Leslie stuttered out, "I didn't mean uh oh like bad. You don't have to be sorry for doing that, what you just did. I'm cool with it," Leslie stammered on and on.

"So you don't hate me for that?"

"No," Leslie said in a strong and clear voice trying to convey just how unsorry she was at the recent turn of events.

"Ok."

"Ok."

"So…."

"So…"

A nervous exchange of laughter filled the air as the two avoided each other's eyes.

"Um," Leslie finally spoke up catching Ben's eye.

In that second, as they stood face to face looking into each other's eyes Leslie knew that she couldn't ignore what had just happened. The kiss had cemented something. She didn't know what but she knew she had to find out. If she just walked away, if she said they'd talk tomorrow, if…if….. Leslie knew it was now or never. Ben had made the first monumental move by confessing his feelings the day before at the restaurant and kissing her a moment earlier. Now it was her turn to take the risk. She took a deep breath and let it out.

"We should talk," Leslie stated, clear and confident.

The two nervously looked around as the reminder that they were taking a huge risk once again entered the forefront of their minds.

"We can talk at my house. No one will overhear us….talking….and you can park on the street in between my house and my neighbor's," Leslie suggested.

"Ok," Ben agreed nodding his head.

"Good, great. Wear black and a knit hat, so you won't look suspicious or recognizable," Leslie said with a small smile that grew larger as the two awkwardly stood as silence engulfed them. They were unable to move and felt stuck in place.

"So….," Ben spoke, breaking the silence.

"I am going to go…..downstairs and grab my stuff. I'll text you my address. I'll order Chinese and you can meet me at my house in an hour nay thirty minutes. Or ya know, whenever. Whatever," Leslie said in an effort to sound casual as she realized she had just invited a man to her house. Her very "cluttered" house.

Leslie made her way back out of the corridor but turned around, "Hey, Ben."

Ben, who was headed back to his office, turned around.

"Last night, when I was headed back to the table, I had every intension of…. kissing you. And then Chris showed up," Leslie shared looking Ben directly in the eye. Her eyebrows arched, emphasizing her words and the significance of her statement.

"I'll see you soon," Ben declared with his shy smile that Leslie had grown rather accustomed to seeing.

Leslie, after getting home called Ann and talked to her best friend as she frantically picked up around her house.

"Code Ben, code Ben!" Leslie shouted the moment Ann answered the phone.

"I'm gonna need a few details. We've had a lot of code Ben's lately," Ann said her voice laced with cautious excitement for her best friend.

"He kissed me. We kissed. It was really good Ann. It was on the month. It was excellent."

"Yay!"

"We're gonna meet at my house and discuss things and maybe, hopefully kiss some more. Oh my god, he's coming to my house. What if he sees it and leaves? When was the last time I shaved my legs? I'm starting to sweat. Should I get waffles instead of Chinese or turkey chili? Should I take off my blazer so I look like "I'm bein caz since I'm at home"? Should I put on a hat? What if he gets here to early? What if he takes too long to get here? What do I do Ann? Tell me what to do Ann. What do I do?"

"First take a breath. Order Chinese. Turn your AC down a few notches to counteract any nervous sweating. Take your blazer off. I told you to shave your legs yesterday morning before the road trip. Do not put on a hat for any reason. Turn on your tart burner in the living room and turn on the tv but have the volume pretty low. Turn on some political documentary since you both like that sort of thing. I was over a few weeks ago and your house isn't too bad right now. Yes, it's very cluttered but most of your back issues of newspapers and numerous birdhouses are shoved in closets, your attic, and garage. Leslie, hear me, you are going to be fine. You and Ben are crazy about each other. You don't have to make any monumental decisions tonight. See where it leads you. You deserve to have a nice guy and be happy. Follow your heart. And just breathe. You can do this," Ann reassured Leslie.

"Should I put on a Kennedy documentary? The Kennedy's are pretty sexy stuff. Or would that seem really obvious? The Great Depression, that'd be to depressing. How about Iran Contra Affair? It's ripe with discussion topics and intriguing. But it has the word affair in it. How about Theodore Roosevelt? A little sexy, ripe with conversational topics, related to my job, and patriotic."

"Ok," Ann replied, not knowing what else to say.

"Am I being stupid by being willing to risk so much, my career, for a guy? I don't know if I can trust my judgement. I mean I slept with Mark Brandonowitz once and was hung up on him for like six years. I dated a civil war reenactor who always wore his costume, at the time the costume thing didn't bother me so much but in retrospect it should have really bothered me."

"You have a big heart and try to see the best in everyone. Maybe in the past that has led you to making some bad decisions when it came to men. But you are a strong intelligent woman. You've learned a lot from the men you've been involved with. Just listen to your instincts. Some guys wouldn't be worth the risk. You just have to ask yourself if Ben is worth the risk. If being with him is going to make you happy then go for it because you deserve it.

"Oh, Ann. You wise beautiful screech owl. I'm gonna go for it. I'll talk to you later."

"You better. You can do this Leslie!"

Meanwhile across town Ben freshened up and debated the pros and cons of wearing all black. He also debated whether or not he should bring a condom. He was a grown man but had never felt like he had successfully navigated the topic. Bringing one made it seem like you expected sex but not bringing one was ill prepared and if you were going to end up having sex and you didn't have a condom nobody won. So Ben managed to find one that thankfully wasn't expired. Then he was forced to spend most of his time home trying to explain, and then making a list of reference, of items that cannot be put into a microwave. Andy's eyes glossed over, in spite of the fact that he had already broken two microwaves, and April just looked bored and like she didn't care. After April and Andy left the house for the evening, it was Friday night and Andy had a gig, Ben was once again left alone with his thoughts as he internally debated what time he should leave and what he should say and should he apologize again for kissing Leslie, should he kiss her again, and what if she regretted everything and thought that they should never talk again.

Leslie was a flurry of activity. She ordered Chinese food, feather dusted, cleared off her coffee table, kitchen counter, and kitchen table while listening to some Sarah McLachlan to pump herself up, and freshened up. In the middle of trying to decide if she looked insane for having nine birdhouses in her living room there was a knock on the door. Leslie was startled and looked at her watch. Since Leslie had said come in thirty minutes or an hour Ben had come in forty five minutes, "Perfect," Leslie thought. She took a deep breath, smiled, and answered the door.

"Hey."

"Hey," Ben said smiling back. "I didn't wear all black or a knit hat because I thought I might look like a burglar and someone would call the cops. I just wore a black coat. I hope that's okay," Ben said.

"Oh yeah. That's fine. Come in."

"My house is a little cluttered right now. It's hard for me to get rid of things," Leslie confessed, rather loudly, as Ben walked through the door. His eyes couldn't help but wander around the room. A "little cluttered" didn't begin to describe it. Luckily, Leslie spoke bringing his focus back to her and it was easy for Ben to just focus on the woman before him that had captured his attention, mind, and heart rather easily.

"I ordered some food. It should be here any minute. So let's sit down," Leslie said pointing to the couch.

"While we eat we could watch this documentary about Teddy Roosevelt. And then, then we can talk and figure things out. I know we have a lot to figure out and none of it is going to be simple or carefree but I'd like to just tuck that away for a little bit. Let's just be two people that like each other and are eating dinner and watching tv together. Like a first date type of situation or whatevs," Leslie offered, getting nervous towards the end of her speech.

"I'd like that." Leslie shared with a hopeful smile on her face.

"Sounds good. I'd like that too," Ben said as his face reflected the same kind of hopeful smile.

Leslie then decided to give in to her feelings. Her mind repeated the mantra, "Screw it." Leslie leaned in closing the gap between them and pressed her lips to his. The kiss was sweet and slow. Leslie pulled away and the two looked in each other's eyes. Then they both leaned in and kissed again. Leslie's hand made it's way from Ben's shoulder to neck and his hand eventually founds it's way to her face. The slow kisses gradually became faster and deeper until the doorbell rang. The chime startled them both as they broke apart. Based upon the look on their faces it looked like were middle schoolers that had gotten caught making out by the principal.

"Hide," Leslie whisper shouted as she stood up. Ben dashed to a far wall where he would not be seen by the delivery guy.

Moments later the two sat on the couch eating while they watched a documentary on Theodore Roosevelt. They ignored the elephant in the room, the fact that they hadn't yet discussed what was coming next, now that they had confessed their feelings and acted on it. Anticipating the conversation that was to come allowed some awkward tension to creep into the room. But there was no place either of them rather be so they ate, talked, and watched the documentary. Once they relaxed and enjoyed the effortless conversation that flowed between them the impending conversation they needed to have was pushed to the back of their minds and the awkward tension dissipated.

The Chinese takeout had been eaten and the containers discarded and forgotten on the coffee table along with their wine glasses. Ben sat on the couch with his body turned towards Leslie as they talked and she sat cross legged facing Ben. The documentary had been finished and The History Channel replaced it. The volume on the tv had been muted and it too had been forgotten about and the only sounds were the quiet voices of Ben and Leslie.

"So if this was like a normal first date, not two people that are hiding out in secret, what would we be doing?" Leslie asked from her seat on the couch.

"Uh, I don't know. I try to make it like…. getting coffee or lunch… so there's not so much pressure," Ben replied.

"For you, specifically, I'd probably suggest a walk in a park. I've noticed that you like parks."

"I do like parks," Leslie smiled, "That's smart, having a first date be lunch or coffee."

"You?"

Leslie nervously laughed.

Ben smiled at Leslie confusingly as she tried to collect herself.

"What?"

"I guess I just wish I had been that smart about first dates. It makes so much sense. I've had many awkward nerve wrecking first dates. If I changed it to coffee or something I would've felt much more at ease."

"I'm sure it hasn't been as bad as you think. No one likes first dates. Everyone finds them awkward, except Chris of course. And for the record I've still done and said plenty of awkward things in spite of my trying to lower the awkward factor," Ben offered.

"Aww, well it's sweet that you think I would make things out to be less awkward than they actually were and by calling it the awkward factor. Do you compute the percentages of the awkward factor Ben?" Leslie teased.

"Well, I can't just ignore percentages Leslie. Percentages are everywhere," Ben teased right back.

"So, that last first date you went on, ….the one Chris set you up on, what was the awkward factor?" Leslie inquired.

"Well, that date had a very high awkward factor. I….. I wasn't into it in the first place." Ben said with a shy smile creeping onto his face.

"Chris set it up and…..it was like 95.5% awkward."

"And," Leslie prompted, wanting to know more.

"I didn't want to be there," Ben admitted which made Leslie completely unable to hold back an all knowing smile because she knew why he didn't want to go on that date, "the whole time I was worried that April and Andy were going to make zero progress on the stuff I'd given them to do and burn down the house or something. She seemed nice and stuff but I just felt bad for her. I had nothing to say and when I did say something I just stumbled over my words. At one point I knocked over my water and then for some reason I took off my jacket and used my jacket to wipe it up."

"Oh, wow."

"So…," Ben said waiting for Leslie to volunteer her own story.

"Mmm, well my last first date was with this guy Justin, a friend of Ann's. It actually wasn't too awkward, for a change. He did most of the talking, come to think of it he did about 98% of the talking. He was a lawyer," Leslie nodded and let out a small laugh.

"I did, however, back into a trashcan as I drove away from our first date," Leslie shared scrunching her face up in embarrassment over the memory.

"I once dated a lawyer. But accountants and lawyers are like oil and water," Ben explained. Leslie assumed you had to be an accountant or lawyer to understand.

"Before that I dated a cop. I was so nervous that before we even went on the first date I may have shown up at his house and drunkenly talked about how nervous I was," Leslie confessed wincing.

"Wow. Well, you see I never would have even had the guts to go out with a cop. Seriously. So that's something."

Leslie laughed remembering how terrified and awkward Ben is around police officers and Ben couldn't help but laugh along.

"So, has Chris often set you up on dates?" Leslie inquired.

"He tries. It is very hard to get him to back down. Luckily he doesn't find someone he feels fits his criteria too often.

"Oh, yeah. "He finds," Leslie begins doing her best Chris Traeger impersonation, "two people that have compatible qualities and then brings them together."

"So what were your compatible qualities with the woman Chris found?"

"He said, we both worked in government," Ben explained causing them both to break out in laughter at the irony.

Every few minutes, as the conversation effortlessly flowed, the pair seemed to get closer and closer. As their conversation came to a close Leslie had her legs curled up under her and her knees touching Ben's leg as she leaned back with her arm on the back of the couch. Ben sat with his arm on the back of the couch and his body turned towards Leslie. Occasionally, to emphasize a point during the conversation one of them would rest their hand on the other's arm, wrist, or hand. Sometimes they found their fingers brushing the other's arm or hand for no real reason at all as they were just enjoying this new level of intimacy between each other.

As the laughter faded out and silence ushered in the elephant in the room could no longer be denied. They both sensed this fact and sat up straight no longer touching. Leslie took a deep breath and her face scrunched up, like it always does when she's thinking of something unpleasant, and she let out a groan of displeasure. Ben silently winced and looked down at his shoes.

Leslie stood up and made her way to the front of the room. The coffee table stood between her and Ben.

Leslie once again took a breath," I'm going to stand and probably pace a bit or a lot."

"Ok, if you don't I will so that's fine," Ben replied.

Leslie then got straight to the point, "So we have established that we both like each other, we have spent time denying this fact, and we have tried not to act on it. But it hasn't worked well. It would be an ethics violation if we were to date, which could end in scandal via we get suspended, fired, and or black balled in government and lose our entire careers, which is only everything we've been working towards our entire lives. Agree?"

"Agree."

"I like my job and you like your job. We both have higher political aspirations and scandals in politics will only bring you down, unless you're Dexhart because he somehow proudly has bizarre horrifying disgusting sex scandals constantly and still gets reelected. So there are only a few solutions to our issue," Leslie stated as she, seemingly out of nowhere, grabbed a ream of chart paper and placed it on a stand, much to Ben's surprise and amazement. Leslie then began fervently writing on it.

"Option 1: If one of us quit our job, first of all that would be silly and premature, and second of all that would look suspicious if we then started dating after and hypothetically they could still look into it. That's no good.

Option 2: Honesty. We tell Chris our predicament and see what happens. They'd probably investigate us and everyone would know our business and who knows what would happen later. Would they, like, compromise with us? We didn't do anything wrong and we were honest with them before anything happened so they are cool with it. They compromise by allowing just Chris to approve Parks stuff that involves me. How serious is Chris about this rule? Thoughts?"

"Chris takes scandal very seriously. Part of his job,… our job, is to protect the citizens from corruption. He hates corruption. Corruption is one of the few things that elevates his heart rate," Ben commented.

"Yeah, but it's you and Chris has known you forever."

"Rules are rules. Chris would have to hold me accountable because he is my superior and if he didn't then he too would be violating ethics rules. I'm your boss, which is how the ethics committee would see it. As city manager and assistant city manager both Chris and I are tasked with disciplining employees of Pawnee, hiring and firing, promoting, and preparing the city budget. Even if Chris foresaw the Parks Department because of all the other tasks of the job and departmental overlap and influence it could never be 100% separate. And then there's the matter of what's already happened in the year since I've been in Pawnee. I've already put together the budget and approved funding and okayed the Harvest Festival. Oh my god, the state government could even investigate," Ben explained standing up towards the end.

"Okay, so that's a sucky option too."

"Alright option 3: We do this," Leslie pointed between the two of them, "in secret and then figure it out later."

"You, the woman who created 5 binders with a total of 367 pages about resurfacing the tennis courts, want to figure it out later."

"Hey, there are a lot of details that go into tennis court resurfacing. Also, after seeing the diorama I made of Martina Navratilova and Billie Jean King playing a game on Pawnee's freshly resurfaced tennis courts I can't believe you didn't give me the funding."

"There's just no money for it Leslie and it's not a priority. Also, a resurfaced tennis court in Pawnee is not going to get Martina Navratilova and Billie Jean King to do a rematch game bringing tourism for the epic game to Pawnee."

"Well, we will never know unless we try. I'm not giving up yet. We're not done with this issue," Leslie indignantly stated.

"Okay, so back to option three, how would that even work? We tell no one and sneak around. We eat dinner in Eagleton and pray that we never run into anyone we know."

"Eagleton, no. Because it is Eagleton and they suck and we will not give money to their economy by eating dinner there. Also, Eagleton is too close and many a Pawneean actually go there for dinner and stuff because it's so much nicer and better smelling. Anyways, yeah we'd have to go out to dinner in neighboring towns. We could go to the movies in Pawnee. If we saw anyone we knew we could just say we both happened to be there so we sat next to each other. We'd have to sneak around a lot and lie. Then after a while, if this turned into something we'd have to figure out what to do next. It might not even be necessary. I could find out that you wear a Civil War reenactor's costume in your free time and even all the rest of the times under your suit and then I end things."

"That's very specific."

"Hmm, really. I just made that up off of the top of my head. It's not something that has happened to me. Or you could find out that I, I don't know, had like a decade's worth of Time Magazine's in my house. I just made that up. Anyways, you could find that out and freak out and never want to see me again."

"That's also very specific."

"Well, what can I say? I'm a creative person, Ben."

"Alright, option four: We forget about tonight and pretend like it never happened and just be all, "See you in the meeting colleague," and then we don't spend any time together because that would make it difficult to not act on our feelings," Leslie said sounding defeated and sad.

It became clear that there was only one option and that was option three, dating in secret.

Leslie and Ben both looked at the chart before them. The only option without a big red slash through it was option three.

"Let's say what option we prefer on three," Leslie said to which Ben nodded.

"One."

"Two."

"Three."

"Option three," they both said in unison.

Leslie then made her way back to the couch and they both sat down with their bodies turned towards each other while their hands silently found each other.

"So we're really gonna do this?" Ben asked.

"Yeah, we'll date in secret. We'll see what happens. And we just won't tell anyone. But can I tell Ann? She's really supportive of this actually, she'd figure it out anyways, and she's my best friend."

"Yeah, you can tell Ann," Ben agreed remembering how Ann once told him that Leslie liked him.

"And if there's anyone you trust to tell….."

"I'd ironically probably confide in Chris about something like this but since that's not an option there is no one I'd tell," Ben told Leslie which made her visibly sad.

"It's okay. I mean I could tell like my brother or sister. But she'd probably worry. My brother would probably be impressed," Ben shared with a small smile.

"So we'll go on dates out of town and take separate cars when necessary."

"We'll hang out here. Are April and Andy going to be nosy about where you are?" Leslie inquired.

"Tonight they left the house before I did. But I'll just tell them I went to a sci fi movie or convention or something and they won't ask any further questions. They'll just tune me out and leave the room or make me leave the room.

"It might even be kind of fun, sneaking around. You up for a challenge Wyatt?"

"Yeah, I bet I can be way sneakier than you," Ben countered to which Leslie took as a sudden opportunity to grab his face and kiss him.

"Did you see that coming?" Leslie questioned with a smirk on her face after she had pulled away.

"I actually didn't," Ben replied smiling.

"See, sneaky," Leslie stated leaning in for another kiss, which led to several more kisses as each became deeper and more intense.

Ben, Leslie thought was being very polite, kept his hands where her shoulder and neck met. This put Leslie at ease. She was not the over thinking bundle of nerves she tended to be in these situations. She was feeling brave. There was a really cute guy in front of her that had the same interests as her. He was nice and could make her laugh and was really in to her. She wanted to make out with him, hard on the face, and she was and it was excellent. She'd always wanted to run her hands through Ben's hair so her hands slowly made their way. This made Ben braver and his hands finally made way down Leslie's sides and rested on her waist. His thumb would even come to rest on Leslie's skin where her shirt had ridden up. At this point Leslie was half sitting in Ben's lap when they broke apart to breathe and figure out what was coming next.

"Do you want to go upstairs?" Leslie quietly asked.

Ben just nodded yes and after Leslie grabbed his hand to lead the way his mouth finally caught up with his brain and he responded with a "Yeah."

"Wait," Ben said once they had reached the hallway that led to Leslie's bedroom.

"I just have to make sure. Are you sure? I have to remind you that this is forbidden and our jobs and future careers could be at stake and I'm technically your boss. I am your boss, and that sounds so….so…sceevy."

"Ben, yes you are my boss. But you're not my immediate superior. You're not a 55 year old balding man going through a midlife crisis. I'm not a naive intern or woman trying to get ahead by sleeping with her boss. We are two consenting and mature adults. We've known each other for like…a year. We both understand the risks and I don't think either of us want to….. to….. wonder….. "what if" … what if we had taken this risk. It's not just me right?" Leslie asked with a smile on her face.

"No, it's not just you," Ben said, his face reflecting the same smile.

"I'm huge on following rules but I've learned that taking risks can be very rewarding. So if we're going to do this," Leslie pointed between them, "then we need to make that decision and stop talking about it or over analyzing it and we need to start seeing if being together is worth the risk."

"Ok. I'm in. I don't want to wonder "what if" either," Ben said with confidence. After all, not wanting to wonder "what if" had lead him to kissing her earlier that day outside his office and confessing his feelings the day before at the restaurant.

Ben then used his hands to bring Leslie's face to his as her hands cupped the nape of his neck. The intensity of the kiss left them wanting more as they pressed their bodies as close as possible to each other. It wasn't until Leslie pushed Ben into the wall, hitting his head, that they stopped. And after Leslie's "I'm sorry" filled the air along with Ben's reassurances and a few nervous laughs did Leslie take Ben by the hand and lead him into her bedroom. It was dark so she stubbed her toe on her dresser but was able to quickly turn on the small lamp on her dresser illuminating her bedroom so they could see but not making it to bright, which would've made them both uncomfortable.

Still holding Ben's hand Leslie used her free hand to quickly, but rather clumsily, turn down her comforter on the bed. She then turned to Ben and they let go of each other's hands only for Leslie to put her hands around Ben's waist as Ben's hands did the same. While kissing intermittently Leslie's hands untucked Ben's shirt and she stepped out of her shoes as Ben took the hint and did the same. They paused and stood before each other hearts racing as they each slowly took off their own shirt and pants. Leslie then got into her bed leaving enough room for Ben to follow. They both laid on their sides kissing and lips and hands exploring each other before Ben wound up on his back and Leslie on top with Ben's shaky hands unhooking her black bra and Leslie sat up briefly to remove it.

"Leslie?" Ben quietly said in a questioning way as they both moved to sit up, Leslie straddling his lap, "Are you sure?"

Leslie smiled, "Yes, I'm sure," she said and not being able to hold back kissed him softly on the mouth.

"You're really sweet," Leslie said before kissing him again. "You're really sweet too," Ben replied but then winced, "I mean you're really pretty. That um, Diaphena painting…..um….um," Ben started saying unsure of how to finish that sentence.

Leslie smirked and raised an eyebrow knowing exactly what Ben was thinking and she remembered how powerful that painting made her feel. She decided to put Ben out of his misery by kissing him.

"Leslie," Ben whispered pulling away.

Leslie took the queue and moved to the side, pulling up the covers to her shoulders and taking her underwear off while Ben swung his legs off of the side of the bed, grabbed his pants taking the condom out of his wallet, removing his boxers and putting it on.

Ben then slid back into bed beside Leslie who looked up at him with her big blue eyes and raised the covers to make room for him.

"Ok, so you have a…..condom and I'm on the pill as well…and you should probably know…that I don't um, you know….get to the uh…."grand finale," Leslie said. At the beginning of her statement she sounded business like but by the end she sounded like she was leading a meeting naked.

"Ok. That's, that's cool," Ben said placing one arm over Leslie bringing himself above her and slowly leaning in for a kiss.

They started with nervous laughter, shy smiles, and awkward glances. Along with a "It's okay. I'm really good with it not lasting long. "Awesome." But shyness gave way to boldness. Intensity took the place of nerves. And any awkwardness became confidence. '

Afterwards some awkwardness and nervousness reentered but those feelings were short lived as this new level of intimacy between them and the feeling of their skin still pressed against each other as they cuddled ushered in contentment and a feeling of excitement over something new. They were mostly silent except for the occasional whispered "this is nice" and the small chuckles that filled the room because nice didn't even begin to describe it. They made a few quips about Diaphena and exchanged a few kisses, well a few dozen.

"Mmmm. I should get going," Ben stated. He had been thinking it for a while but didn't want to move.

Leslie looked at him a bit disappointed. He would've missed it but he noticed that whenever she was upset her face would scrunch up, just the slightest, between her eyes.

"Andy and April will probably be home soon from Andy's gig. I'm usually asleep when they come back home but they usually bring back some strangers and wake me up."

"Mmm."

Ben made no move to get up.

A few minutes later he finally gave in, kissing Leslie, and getting up to get dressed.

Leslie made sure to glance, a few times, at Ben's butt, and then turned away grinning. She reached for her robe, on the chair beside her bed. She almost fell out of the bed reaching for it and thanked Diaphena that Ben was still facing away from her so he hadn't noticed.

As Ben was tying his shoes he saw Leslie's slippered feet before him. He smiled, her slippers had penguin heads on the toe and his mind flashed back to the gay penguin marriage ceremony she had once told him about many months ago when they had been adversaries of sorts.

"I'll walk you out" Leslie offered as Ben stood.

They held hands until they got to Leslie's front door only letting go to embrace each other.

"I'll call you tomorrow," Ben said.

"Yeah, tomorrow."

"Maybe we can try the whole going out of town to secretly eat dinner together thing,"

"We'll give it try. And we'll try to give it a better name as well," Leslie said with a smile before rising up on her toes to give Ben a kiss.

After a few more kisses they finally said goodbye. Ben walked back to his car with a smile that didn't leave his face until he got home and opened the front door to see Orin and beyond him Andy's bandmates playing video games with Andy while April seemed to be cutting letters out of a magazine.

Leslie closed the door with a huge smile on her face as she racked her brain for a way to express the epicness of the night. She couldn't wait to tell Ann, Ann the wise bamboo eating koala, about the night's events. Leslie and Ben had finally gone from being friends to be so much more. Things were happening, Leslie had even gotten to the grand finale that night. Although it was risky she felt like a weight had been lifted off of her. The circumstances were not ideal and it was complicated but the feelings of hope and possibility ran through her soul. Only something truly epic could help her express what she was currently feeling. What Leslie was feeling could only be captured, explained, or worthy of a…..movie. So Leslie made herself some hot chocolate to go with her whip cream and set out to make an imovie. Just as soon as figured out how.

_Please leave a review! Do I have to much narrative and not enough dialogue? Are my tenses okay? Are they in character? I tried to write the sex scene but I just couldn't. I wanted to step out of my comfort zone as a writer and write it but I couldn't. Is how I worked around the sex scene okay?_


	6. Well, Buddy

**Well Buddy...**

_So what happened after Leslie told Ben the good news? This has been on my mind for, well months. So here is my attempt._

"Well, buddy I have some good news for you."

A subtle but sure smile crept onto Ben's face.

As his eyebrows rose in surprise Leslie's smile grew and she shook her head yes and let out a breath she hadn't known she was holding in.

"You, your….you….your…..," Ben stumbled over his words in the way only "human disaster" Ben could.

"Yeah, I'm... pregnant. I'm pregnant," Leslie declared sounding more confident as she repeated the words.

She had only said the words aloud twice before, a few hours ago with Andy and earlier that day in the cramped studio bathroom as she stared at the "YUP" response on the pregnancy test and whispered the revelation, "I'm pregnant" to herself. Not wanting to take the word of a pregnancy test that gave you results in the form of "YUP" or "Nope", which Leslie had bought on impulse, she had bought another test on her way home and those results confirmed what she already knew to be true. She had then anxiously awaited Ben's arrival.

"Wow, oh my god. Good timing," Ben said letting out a small laugh at his current inability to form complete thoughts.

Leslie shared in the laugh and the two just sat on the couch of their first home together in the same room they had gotten engaged in reveling in their new and happy news as they wordlessly smiled at one another clasping each other's hands. The trance was only broken when Leslie launched herself into Ben's arms. As they held onto each other they silently willed themselves to remember everything about the moment and how perfect their life felt.

After pulling back from the hug but their hands still grasping each other's arms they smiled at each other once more and then lightly laughed at the giddy feeling that had wrapped them up and left them with the inability to formulate words.

"So, wow," Leslie spoke through laughter.

"Yeah."

"So, um tell me everything."

"Ok, so... I thought I just had the flu. I've felt kind off the last few days and nauseous and then I started throwing up. I thought I'd just go to the pharmacy and get some "Mariah needs to sing tonight" flu medicine and power through it but then I saw the pregnancy tests and "I might be pregnant" popped into the brain."

"Do you feel okay now?" Ben asked looking alarmed

"Yeah, I feel totally normal right now. Anyways I mean I hadn't originally been thinking that I was pregnant because we only started trying for like a month before we had decided to put it on hold to figure out the whole moving thing. But damn Ben we got it done!"

Leslie then stood up with Ben following her and initiated the Ben and Leslie nerdy handshake routine and ended it with another hug.

"Your either in or your out," Leslie excitedly stated.

"I'm in. I just came to you to say that," Ben replied smiling.

"Oh god, I'm filthy," Ben stated breaking the two out of their state of bliss.

"Oh, yeah. What's that all about?"

"It involves blueberry very alcoholic wine, Ron, Eagleton Ron, by the way my spirit animal is a baby snow owl, Ron being a bad person to talk to about your crazy parents but also some how in the end being the right person," Ben explained.

"Yeah, he's like that. And oh my god your spirit animal is a baby snow owl. That is so cute. I wonder what mine is," Leslie exclaimed.

"I better go shower and….."

"Yeah, be quick,"

"I will," Ben said giving Leslie a quick kiss on the side of the mouth before sprinting out of the room.

Fifteen minutes later Ben entered their bedroom to find Leslie on the phone with Ann and a binder spread open upon her lap. Ben smiled at the predictability yet comfort the site brought him.

"Ok, I'll call you tomorrow Ann. Bye," Leslie stated as she hung up her phone and turned to place it on the nightstand to her left as Ben joined her in bed with a kiss.

"I had to call Ann before I burst. Chris is out of town on a business trip so you can tell him yourself tomorrow. You'll probably want to carve out a few free hours and a valid excuse to get off the phone because Chris is going to have a lot of advice to give and a lot to say. We'll have to tell our parents tomorrow. Our moms are gonna burst. They never thought we'd get married and now we are and giving them a grandchild. What will your dad think?"

"Oh, he'll probably be all aloof about it with a hint of pride and when he sees me he'll slap me on the back and say that ya boy. Ya know what's weird? Our kid isn't going to be much younger than it's aunt."

"That is weird."

"So what plans have you already made?" Ben asked pointing to Leslie's binder.

"Well," Leslie said coyly before her hyper side kicked in, "I made a list of ideas for lists we should make. For instance, a list of the parks we want to take our kid to, books we want to introduce, movies, Halloween costume ideas. I have so many ideas for lists Ben!"

"Wow, you've already got a list that is four pages long full of ideas for lists," Ben remarked.

"What's this post it note for? Buy candy. Already having cravings?" Ben asked.

"Well, I don't need to be pregnant to want candy. But I want to buy Andy some candy as a thank you/bribe for staying quiet."

"Well, that definitely has the possibility of working for him. But what do you want Andy to be quiet about?"

"Oh, yeah. Andy knows I'm pregnant. I thought that he knew I was pregnant so I asked him how he knew. But it turns out that he just thought we were getting a dog. He just sent me a picture. It's of him and Champion rolling around in the mud and the caption is, "Can't wait for your new addition to join us!". I'm a little confused about what he thinks is happening. Does he want our baby to join them or does he think we are also getting a dog still?"

"What?" Leslie asked a smiling Ben.

"Our baby."

"Yeah," Leslie said smiling back and leaning in for a kiss.

"Did I mention that the pregnancy test I bought is called, "Womb There It Is?"

_So what did you think? Leave a review please. Also, if you have any suggestion for future chapters let me know!_


	7. The Bubble

_This drabble was inspired by the deleted scene in The Bubble when Leslie goes to her desk to find a small bubble container along with a note, obviously from Ben, and then Leslie makes a phone call (to Ben) while blowing bubbles. The scene intersects with Leslie's talking ahead about how if you are with the right guy the bubble doesn't break, it can still be exciting._

**The Bubble**

The note was left on her desk along with a small container of bubbles. Leslie had read the note over and over again. Her face wore a smile that did not leave. Leslie couldn't resist and she even pulled the wand out of the container and began blowing bubbles as she dialed a very familiar number and waited for the phone to be answered. She felt a childlike enthusiasm, the kind that was only ushered in by something exciting and pure.

"Ben Wyatt."

"Hey, it's Leslie. Leslie Knope. From downstairs. The Parks Department."

"Hello Leslie Knope from downstairs in the Parks Department."

"Hi," Leslie said with a wide smile on her face.

Leslie let out a nervous laugh, nervous as in she was a bit giddy to be talking to the guy she really liked.

"Hi," Ben said with a similar smile on his face.

"So I was wondering if you wanted to come over to my place tonight. I'll even cook dinner. We'll watch hour nine of that Iran Contra documentary. Then… I'm gonna kiss you hard on the face," Leslie stated with a smile on her face as she read over the unsigned note Ben had left on her desk.

"Ok," Ben said with a laugh as he smiled knowing that Leslie must've appreciated the sentiment behind the gift he had placed on her desk, "Sounds good. I'll see you then."

A few hours later Ben finally knocked on her door.

"Hey, sorry that took forever," Ben said as he walked through the door. "I had to drive April and Andy home because they've been having car trouble. Andy doesn't know where his car is because he parked it at the mall and forgot where and April's car isn't running it turns out it's because she never got the oil changed and they had no idea they were supposed to do that so tomorrow…", Ben began to explain only to be interrupted by Leslie.

"Uh, uh. That's interesting or not. I wasn't really listening," Leslie said interrupting Ben before pouncing on him to give him a series of kisses while knocking him into the door.

"What's happening?" Ben asked looking confused.

"That little note with the bubbles was really sweet," Leslie explained as she grabbed Ben's tie, in effect pulling him closer for another series of kisses.

"And you know, it was pretty hot, you standing up to my mom and walking out of there all confident, living to tell the tale, metaphorically because we can't actually tell the tale literally. Anyways," Leslie stated as her hands untucked Ben's dress shirt.

Ben's face now mirrored confusion but with intrigue and curiosity bubbling up to the surface.

"You're so cute," Leslie couldn't help but say in response to Ben's baffled expression.

"I made spaghetti and just put the garlic bread in the oven. We have 12-15 minutes. So we have time for some, I don't know, fast but efficient "stuff" or you know whatever," Leslie said raising her eyebrows.

Leslie went in for another kiss, making sure to touch Ben's butt, to which Ben slightly jumped, causing Leslie to halt the kiss and, hoping to clear up any lingering confusion to proclaim, "We're gonna make out now."

"Okay," Ben said, a smile breaking through, as Leslie grabbed his hand pulling him to her couch where she made him sit and then climbed into his lap initiating another series of kisses.

Later that night, after Ben had snuck back home so he could be there to take care of April and Andy the next morning, after many lingering kisses, Leslie sat in her bed doing paperwork and listening to old Spice Girl's c.d.'s occasionally looking at Ben's note which she had place beside her. She kept smiling to herself, reading the note, and thinking about how good her life felt right now.

_The bubble may have burst but there are always more to come and more to chase after. _

_Please review!_


	8. Raccoonpocolypse

Contains:Raccoons Pawnee style, family cuddling, and more.

Raccoonpocalypse

Occasional flashes of lightening lit up the dark room as rain pounded down outside. A family of five slept soundly though were rather crowded together under the covers. The little ones had been afraid of the storm. On the left side of the bed the mother slept on her left side with her arm around the little blonde girl that looked like her. Next, was the boy with glasses asleep on his stomach with his body curved towards his brother and his arms and legs outstretched in ways that made it look like his limbs were broken. Next to the little boy with glasses was the other boy. He slept on his back with his left knee poking his father in the ribs. The father slept on his stomach with his right arm dangling off the side of the bed and his body only 3/4ths on the bed.

The buzz of a vibrating cell phone suddenly disturbed the peaceful quiet. Startled Ben tried to quickly answer the phone by rolling over and reaching for it and almost dropping it before he said, "Hello", and managed to make his way out of the room so as not to wake up his family.

"Teddy Roosevelt once said…," Ben heard Leslie exclaim as he shut the door behind himself.

Within minutes Ben was dressed and sitting at the chair to the right of Leslie tying his shoes.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Leslie sleepily asked.

As Ben opened his mouth to answer he was stopped by the little girl still asleep shouting, "My toy." Both he and Leslie had to smile as they knew the sleep talking trait had befallen their three children and had come from Leslie who could talk for an hour in her sleep and never wake up. Just a few hours earlier as Ben was drifting to sleep he was awakened by the boy next to him sitting up in bed, though asleep, and declaring, "Everybody gets a juice box."

"I got a code red call," Ben whispered.

"Code Red," Leslie loudly whispered as she sat up in bed, "That's the highest level. What have the raccoons done now?"

"The creek in their part of town overflowed. It's been raining for a week straight. They think it has driven the raccoons toward our part of town.  
Apparently, the raccoons are running rampant all over town. The raccoon emergency service has had it's lines jammed with people calling in. Twenty one people have called in saying that they woke up next to a raccoon in their bed." Their eyes quickly jumped to their own bed and were relieved to find no raccoons.

"The people of Pawnee should know better than to have a doggie door because of this very problem," Leslie whispered shaking her head.

"They've also taken over a Ponch Burger. They've also somehow gotten into various motels in the city. There are also raccoon sightings in Walmart, which there normally are but apparently the raccoons all barged in, in a herd and all the people took off in the other direction."

"Oh my God, it's happening. They said it would happen one day. We've been waiting for so long and it's finally happened," Leslie whispered in wonder.

"What?"

"The raccoonpocolypse. It is here. Thank God our house is raccoon proof and we have plenty of rations."

"Yeah," replied Ben as he stood and kissed his wife on the forehead and the lips as he made his way out of the bedroom. But before he could open the door leading to the garage Leslie stopped him, pushed him against the door and kissed him as if he were a colonel going off to war, in which case he kind of was, a raccoon war. He then drove off to city hall to enact raccoon protocol code red. It was a protocol specific to Pawnee because of the massive raccoon problem and required the city manager be there to lead the efforts of taking back the city from the raccoons. As Ben drove to city hall he could see raccoons on roofs and scampering down the street and there were so many raccoons that you could even hear their little raccoon sounds. Ben had lived in Pawnee for some time and during his time in city hall he had become quite accustomed to issuing raccoon protocol but he had never seen anything like this.

By morning the raccoon hotline lines, even the extra ones that had been added, were jammed. School had to be canceled. Raccoons had even broken into the hospital and police station. A few police officers had to lock themselves in a jail cell in an effort to protect themselves. Luckily, in daylight the Pawnee raccoons were slower, other raccoons slept but not the Pawnee ones. In a joint effort with Animal Control, the Parks officers, and Rangers from Pawnee and the surrounding towns were able to herd the raccoons back to their side of town and keep them there by diverting the garbage trucks to unload all of their trash loads of the day there.

Sure enough the next day the newspaper headlines in giant red letters read "Raccoonpocolypse 2017."


	9. Flu Season 3

In Pawnee flu season means we are going to have a good time. I want season 7 to have a Flu Season episode so until then or if that doesn't happen I wrote a little something to ease my desire. In my drabble Flu Season 3 one of the triplets gets sick, chaos ensues, and kids will be kids. Update: The series is now over and there was no Flu Season 3 so here is mine. Without further ado...Here it is…..

**Flu Season 3**

"Mommy. Daddy. I don't feel good. I'm gonna…."

"I threw up," a two year old cried.

When the bed side lamp was turned on it illuminated the room and the faces of three two year olds, all with tears in their eyes.

Ben and Leslie, though half asleep, quickly scrambled out of bed each grabbing a kid and making their way to the bathroom, but not before going back to grab the other one. They only had two arms each and three kids. They were outnumbered. It's not that they ever forgot the third kid it is just that it took a few seconds for them to remember the third kid.

After frantically making it to the bathroom Ben and Leslie quickly looked at each child and then at each other.

"Which one got sick?" Ben and Leslie asked each other at the same time.

"I don't know," they simultaneously declared.

"It was dark and I'm still half asleep," Leslie said.

With triplets Ben and Leslie had to quickly figure out which kid was sick so that the other two could be isolated. It was bad enough to have one sick kid but three sick children was a nightmare. If one kid was sick the other two would quickly follow. It was also flu season and they couldn't take any chances. But if Ben and Leslie were amazing at one thing it was problem solving and this dynamic duo could rise to the occasion.

"Hey which one of you threw up?" Ben asked the triplets as he and Leslie put the kids they were carrying down and crouched down to meet their eyes.

But it was hard to get a straight answer from two year olds, especially three that were tired and crying and whimpering things like, "I don't want to be sick."

While trying to calm the kids down but find their answer Leslie and Ben frantically felt the kids to see if one felt warm.

"They've been sleeping they all feel warm," Ben voiced.

"Temperature," they both shouted out in synch.

After what felt like an agonizing wait it was determined that it was not the girl clutching her stuff animal fox was sick nor was it the little boy missing his glasses in a rush to accompany his bother and sister on the journey down the short hall to their parent's room. The sick little boy was the one that clutched the tag on the side of his tshirt and had things not presently been chaotic Leslie would've taken a picture of the little boy's bedhead.

After it was determined the little boy was done throwing up he was given some medicine to bring his slight fever down. He was not pleased about taking the medicine so his brother suggested that if he took the medicine he would earn a quarter. They were going to have to keep an eye on the one with glasses. He was a little too smart for his own good. The little girl suggested her sick brother take the medicine in exchange for a cupcake. She was a little too much like Leslie for her own good. In the end, the sick little boy took the medicine in exchange for sleeping in his parents bed, which he would've been doing anyway since the Knope Wyatt Quarantine for One Sick Triplet needed to be enacted. The other two of the trio wanted to stay with their brother and parents but they were persuaded by a promise that they'd get to go to the park in the morning.

The sick little boy fell asleep after an episode of Jake and The Neverland Pirates, two Dr. Seuss stories, an out of season singing of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, and a back rub. Ben and Leslie soon followed after some sanitizing. A few hours later as the sun was rising they were poked awake by a little boy wanting to play pirates. It was going to be a long day.


	10. The Battle of the Veggies

**The Battle of The Veggies**

My 1st Parks and Rec drabble ever.

"Come on you can do it. You just have to try it. You won't know if you don't like it unless you try it," Ben said looking hopeful but stern from his place at the table.

Leslie sat before her plate with a disgusted look on her face as she raised the fork to her mouth and let out a deep breath before taking a bite. Ben looked expectantly at his wife and then gave her a look that she needed to pretend to like the broccoli. The only way Leslie would eat broccoli was if it involved so much cheese on the vegetable that you could no longer see the broccoli. Ben had made dinner so he only put a moderate amount of cheese on the broccoli. He believed it should only be there to aid them in getting the kids to eat their veggies. They, as Leslie put it, had fundamental differences in vegetables. Leslie thought the kids would eat all of their broccoli if they smothered it in cheese. Ben thought that was probably true but that it worked against the principle of the matter, the cheese should only be there for flavor to persuade the kids to eat the broccoli. Leslie bet Ben that she was right, even though he had not disagreed with her.

"Mmmm. This tastes pretty good. Wow. I think you guys should try it too," Leslie stated looking at the three 3 year olds around the table.

Ben knew she did not like the broccoli but was grateful was pretending to like it in an effort to get the triplets to eat their vegetables. Leslie spent the remainder of dinner sneaking the rest of her broccoli onto Ben's plate and declaring she ate all of her's so she earned her dessert. By the end of dinner each kid had eaten a piece of broccoli. Only one.

"I win. My way of eating vegetables is better!" Leslie exclaimed as she took a dish towel and used it to playfully swat at Ben.

"It wasn't a competition," Ben stated, "Your way may result in a clean plate but my way is still healthier."

"But it's gross," Leslie chided.

"Well, on the bright side at least I got you to eat some broccoli," Ben said as he Leslie cleaned up the kitchen.

_I wrote this before season 7 premiered. So when the scene revealing that Leslie and Ben hide veggies in food I was really excited! Especially, when we learned that Ben even hides veggies in Leslie's food and has since before they were married._


	11. Let's Screw It

**Let's Screw It**

_Explores how Leslie was finally able to say "Let's Screw It" and why Ben met her at the Smallest Park._

"It's going to be okay," Ann reassured Leslie.

"Is it? Honestly, is it? I mean I guess I just need to leave Ben alone. That's what he says he wants. Okay," Leslie said looking as dejected as her best friend had ever seen her.

"From what it sounds like Ben is not saying that he never wants to see or talk to you again. He just needs some time to…move on."

"Yeah, to move on….," Leslie said with a heavy sigh.

"You guys didn't break up because it wasn't working. You broke up because of circumstance and timing and it's not like your feelings for each other could just disappear when the relationship ended. I think some time and space will be good for not just Ben but for you too Leslie. I mean I don't think you've moved on and you've been hanging on to him so hard. How could you have moved on? Have you?"

After a long pause Leslie finally answered, "No."

"I…I…I just…I've been accused of being clingy, of being too much, many many many times. In the past it's because I'm persistent and trying to…..make something happen. It's just different with Ben. I don't think I've ever dated someone where it's been so…easy….comfortable…..and we have so much in common and on the friends side of the relationship we had it so good. I hate that our romantic relationship didn't… pan out. But I thought at least we could be friends. That way he could still be in my life. That would make the breaking up part suck less. We could get along, talk to each other, be Chris's "dream team". Uhhhhhh. I have since been informed that you can't chop up the different aspects of a relationship and hold onto the parts you want," Leslie explained using Ben's own words.

"What if we can never be friends? Then it's like all of this, what we had, what we did, was for nothing?"

"What do you mean?" Ann inquired.

"We took such a huge risk, being together. It could have been a huge scandal. I know I should count this as lousy timing as a blessing in disguise. We hadn't been dating long before we had to end things. We got to end it on our own terms and not because we got caught and everything blew up in our face. But if our relationship is over and if we can't even be friends then it's like we have nothing to show for it, for the risk we took. What does that mean? That being together wasn't worth the risk? That just doesn't feel right," Leslie stated wiping away a tear that escaped from her eyes.

"This would be so much easier if I could be angry with Ben. Why'd he have to be all understanding and supportive?" Leslie whined.

"Just give it some time. This will pass. A year from now you are going to be Councilwoman Leslie Knope. You are going to run this town. You will be exactly where you belong," Ann declared hoping to offer Leslie a bit of perspective and hope.

"What now?"

"I am going to give Ben what he wants. I'll stop trying to spend time with him, calling and texting him, and prolonging work projects. I'll give him space."

Both women grew silent. Leslie had to take in the significance of what she had just promised and Ann took a moment to mull over Leslie's words.

"I just wish our last interaction wasn't me being a crazy ex girlfriend. Should I apologize? Should I sneak into his office and return his pencils?" Leslie said and then put her head down on her desk.

"I don't know what to tell you Leslie. And is returning his pencils code for something?"

"Well, the park will be finished by the end of the day. Once the park is over Ben and I will be over too. He's going to ask Chris to take over Parks business for him. And Leslie Knope will just be someone that began as part of the dream team and ended as part of the nightmare team because she was a steamroller that rolled over people's future potential relationships, pencils, and their good memories of cuddling and history channel documentaries. Uhhhh….You know what?" Leslie said gaining some resolve and standing up.

"I'm going to call him, one time, only once. I can apologize and leave things in a way where our last interaction won't be marred in negativity. And we should see this last project through. Then I'll be good," Leslie somberly explained picking up the phone and took a deep breath.

"Hey, Ben. It's Leslie. Knope. Leslie Knope. I…I… just wanted to call and say that the Smallest Park will be complete today. Um, I think we should see this last project through. So meet me there at 8:00 tonight, if you want. I'm sorry and I hope you'll come. Bye. Goodbye," Leslie got out just before the phone cut her off.

Ann went back to her office and left Leslie with a hug and promise that she'd call if she needed to talk or vent or needed to be talked down from doing anything crazy.

Ann sat down at her desk for about three seconds before she got up knowing there was something she had to do. Ann found herself in Ben's office imploring him to meet Leslie at their "Smallest Park". She thought one last meeting between the two would give Leslie a chance to apologize and they could both say whatever needed to be said and they could walk away with some sense of closure. Ann never told Leslie that she went to Ben and Ben never promised Ann he would meet Leslie but he did leave Ann with an impression that he might go.

Meanwhile, Leslie stayed in her office with the door closed. She tried doing research on pine beetles and read up on the safety of playground equipment but she mostly just stared into her computer screen unable to concentrate. At one point April, sensing Leslie's sadness, brought her boss a cookie. Leslie left work seven minutes early that day. A huge rarity.

Leslie found herself at home. All she could do was think. Think about the past, think about her and Ben, and think about the murky future. She thought about the what if's. The thought of Ben leaving Pawnee even entered her mind. After all, leaving the state government for city government should only be one stepping stone for someone as smart and capable as Ben. She felt so low that she couldn't see herself as city counselor or even president at the moment and she merely picked at her waffles. Leslie knew she had to let Ben go but she still didn't want to let him go.

Leslie got to the Smallest Park thirty minutes early. She sat in her car for ten minutes and then sat in the increasingly chilly temperatures on the white bench. The quaint little park looked so romantic for it's French style bench and lighting fixture and it's deep red flowers but it felt so lonely. Leslie sat and thought more. She didn't even know why she was thinking but she couldn't turn her brain off. She was just going to apologize and tell Ben that she understood and that she was going to leave him alone. If and when he was ready to be friends he could let her know. She regretted asking him to meet her at the Smallest Park, not that she was confident he would come. If he did come after she apologized and said her piece it would be hard watching him walk away. It almost felt like they were going to breakup all over again. Except this time Leslie already knew how much it hurt to be Ben Wyatt's exgirlfriend so this goodbye would be torture.

Meanwhile, Ben worked late. Well, he sat at his desk mindlessly reading the same spreadsheet over and over again until he just gave up and sat in the silence of the otherwise empty city hall. A part of him, a huge part of him, didn't want to meet Leslie at the Smallest Park. It was the same part of him that wondered what the hell he was still doing in Pawnee. He had nothing left to say to her (except for maybe I miss you. I think I'm in love with you. I know I'm in love with you. But he knew he couldn't say any of those things.) But Ben knew he would go. Even if it felt like torture. He knew he would go because she had asked. She had asked nicely and after all, only leaving one voicemail message for Leslie was really something. Sometimes he really hated when the nice guy part of him won.

So Ben left work and got to the Smallest Park at 8:01. Leslie was sitting on the bench waiting for him. She apologized. Ben accepted. He started to walk away. Leslie was overcome with regret. She couldn't let him walk away. This, Leslie and Ben, was too significant to not fight for.

"Or we could just say let's screw it and do this thing for real," rang through the air suddenly and abruptly stopping Ben.

Then all of the thinking had stopped. Only one clear thought emerged for both Leslie and Ben. This was for real. This was it. If Leslie was saying "Let's screw it" then Ben was on board because that was significant. If either of them walked away now they would regret it and always wonder what could have been. Many months ago they had both thought about what made them happy and decided to follow it. Ben and Leslie had decided their relationship was worth the risk. They both knew who they wanted to be with if the world was ending.

And then they kissed. It represented how strongly they felt about their relationship and how relieved they were to be reunited. It was about everything they felt in that moment, what they had meant to each other in the past, and what they had to look forward to in the future.


	12. We're Getting Married!

_This chapter takes place the night of Ben and Leslie's engagement._

We're Getting Married!

"So tell me everything. Every single detail," Leslie said as she punctuated each word by poking Ben in the chest as she laid on her side right beside him, naked post engagement celebration in her bed.

"Um, I don't know," Ben said unsure of what she wanted to hear.

Leslie playfully rolled her eyes, "Details. When did you decide? How? What was your plan?"

"Um, well. We talked about getting married before. Like when we talked about moving in together."

They both thought back to the night they had decided to move in together, it was the night before he and April were driving to DC.

_"__Mmmm," Leslie sighed contently as Ben held her tighter as they laid under the covers in his dark room. Their kisses and touches still lingered as they spoke in whispers. _

_"__I'm gonna miss this and you. I'm gonna have to get out my Daniel Craig body pillow. Oh my god did I just say that out loud? I was single for a long time. A long long time. And you know I'm a cuddlier."_

_Ben smiled and let out a light chuckle,"I'm gonna miss this and you as well," Ben generously said blowing by Leslie's statement that she'd rather have not said aloud. _

_"__I think now, you should tell me something embarrassing," Leslie suggested. _

_"__Uh, I don't know. I guess I might from time to time cuddle a pillow while I fall asleep when we're not together. _

_"__Awww," Leslie expressed and gave him a kiss. _

_"__You've turned me into a cuddlier," Ben shared as April and Andy's screams started filling the air. _

_"__I probably should've listened to the voice in my head that said we should've slept at your house tonight."_

_"__It was just more convenient since you were packing and you're leaving really early with April in the morning. I'm sure they'll want to get a good night sleep since they have to be up early."_

_"__Then you don't know them very well if you think that."_

_"__What the hell are they doing?" Leslie whispered after they heard more screams and a loud crash._

_"__Who knows? We might not want to know."_

_"__I need to pee though. And they're still out there. But I don't want to leave this spot. And I have to get fully dressed in daytime clothes if I'm gonna go out there. I'm mortified that Andy would say something like "cute pajamas" in the middle of a meeting at work."_

_"__Yeah, I wouldn't put it past him. I talked with him about discretion after I explained to him what that word meant."_

_Leslie couldn't help but laugh which was then halted by another loud scream, this time by Janet Snakehole. _

_"__Okay, I seriously have to pee," Leslie said as she got up and got redressed. She slowly opened the bedroom door and tiptoed out. A few minutes later she came back._

_"__Oh my god. They're playing with silly string in their Bert Macklin and Janet Snakehole costumes._

_"__I thought I had confiscated all of their silly string."_

_"__Seriously, why do you live with them? It's like a frat house or youth hostel or weird performance art piece type of situation," Leslie commented as she changed into pajamas, Ben's Little Sebastian tshirt and her own flannel pants with owls on them. Ben had already dressed when Leslie had left the room._

_"__Yeah, at first I just needed a place fast and I didn't really need to commit to it too much. Though, I ended up just wanting to clean them and teach them to be adults and try to keep them alive. Now a year later I am still here. I have definitely thought about moving out. I know April is capable of much more than she lets on. If I moved out it'd give them a bit of a push out of the nest and they'd be okay in their own strange way. April can take care of Andy. Oh god, Andy is going to be here alone, by himself." _

_"__I'll drop by and check in on Andy and take him out to dinner from time to time," Leslie offered as she crawled back into bed and into Ben's arms._

_"__Thank you,"_

_You know, maybe you should find a new roommate. Someone blonde and fun and works in local government."_

_"__Mmmm, Sam Lindstrom in Payroll. He is blonde and fun. He always got my accounting puns."_

_Leslie laughed and smacked him in the chest._

_"__But I'd much rather live with someone blonde and fun and works in local government like you than Sam. I think Sam is married with three kids."_

_"__Oh, us living together! That sounds like a good idea. It can be part of our "We're a normal couple out and about" plan."_

_"__And I love you so very much but your place is like a nightmare scary hoarder nest so I suggest that we get our own place."_

_"__Okay. Ann has also used those adjectives as well as the health department. And it might be nice to start this new phase in a new place."_

_"__So deal?" "Deal," they agreed as they shook on it and then kissed. _

_It now sounded like April and Andy were playing with Champion. They kept shouting at the villain Darkbloom, that was Champion's nickname in their games. _

_"__I've never lived with a guy before," Leslie shared._

_"__Me neither. I mean I've lived with guys before, in college and Andy. I've never lived with a girl before. I mean April's a girl. I've never lived with a girl in like a….," Leslie saved him from human disaster mode by cutting him off, "I get it babe."_

_"__So, any like….requirements, for lack of a better word, for living together. Like do you want to be like…..married or….engaged or something," Ben asked._

_"__Well, my feeling has always been that I'd have to see a future with a guy if I were to move in with him. Did you see a future with Andy when you moved in with him?" _

_"__Well, I saw Andy having no future if I didn't move in with him," Ben said with a laugh._

_"__And I'd want to…. marry the guy I saw a future with one day, in the future," Leslie said with a smile. _

_"__Me too. I….I…..mean the woman I saw a future with…..you," Ben clarified through stutters. _

_"__Ok." "Ok."_

_"__They're pretty quiet I guess we should get some sleep. Goodnight," Leslie said with a kiss._

_"__Goodnight," Ben replied as Leslie turned over, her back facing Ben as he readjusted his arm around her. They had both fallen asleep with smiles on their faces. _

"I already wanted to…marry you," Ben paused before continuing, "Jen asked me to think about my future. I saw you and Pawnee. Home," Ben stated a bit shyly but then found his confidence. "I already had that life, traveling from place to place for work. I was in my twenties then and single. It was fine, then. But that's not what I want in my life now. I didn't have a home and my only purpose was to atone for my Icetown disaster. My parents got divorced when I was nine and they sincerely hate each other. I always thought that if I ever got married I would be completely sure that I was marrying the right person for me. I'd avoid all of my parent's mistakes. I mean they have nothing in common and don't respect or like each other. I've never understood why they thought it was a good idea to get married and have a family. I went through phases in my life where I couldn't comprehend why anyone would ever want to get married because of my parent's terrible example. But it was just that, their terrible example. I've since learned that when you meet the right person you want to take that brave leap into marriage with them. I want to start this next part of my life with you, here, in normal ways. Well, as normal as Pawnee or we will ever be. I maybe go back to accounting, run your campaigns, hopefully the raccoon problem in Pawnee improves, seriously I saw fifteen coming into town this morning, and we have a kid or two after a while, as long as Andy and April don't get too jealous."

Leslie then brought her hand to his face and kissed him deeply.

"So what would these kids be like?"

"Well, they'd probably have your energy. So it'll be exhausting."

"So why'd you say yes? Ben inquired.

"Well, we had talked about it before, we're moving in together, and you asked," Leslie said making them both laugh.

"I think marriage should be with the right person and it should feel special. Marriage is an epic thing and I think we're epic. I think we are so epic we are a statistically anomaly. You should be able to appreciate that my little numbers robot."

"I do appreciate that," Ben conquered.

"I mean I made an imovie in honor of the first time we hooked up," Leslie said with a laugh.

"It's probably going to be in my presidential library Ben. I even refer to myself as the future president of the United States in the movie."

"Oh my god. What form of media will celebrate our engagement?"

Leslie just laughed. "I've got several ideas floating around in my head. Haven't decided yet. But it's going to be 5000 times better than an imovie. The only issue is I don't want to leave this bed right now. But I want to shout "We're getting married" from the rooftops! My brain is on overload right now. I might need you to shut it down for me. You know you're the only person that has ever been able to do that," Leslie said with a whisper and a raised eyebrow before Ben pulled her down for a kiss.

Leslie suddenly pushed Ben away and then sat up shouting as loud as she could, "We're getting married!"

"Well, I bet your neighbors could hear that," Ben said rubbing his ears. Leslie shouted it twice more before Ben finally pulled her back to him and silenced her with kisses in between their giggles and Leslie repeatedly saying, "We're getting married."

_Please review!_


	13. The Andy&April's Fancy Party After Party

_Ben, Leslie, and Tom go to JJ's after Andy and April's Fancy Party_

**The Andy and April's Fancy Party After Party**

"I bet you're depressed boo boo. Every time a couple gets married two single people die. You're alone and you're not getting any younger. Let's go get in your go go mobile and you take us to JJ's. A pizza bagel and one fourth of a hot pocket ain't gonna fill up Tommy's tum tum. "

"I hadn't actually thought of that until now. Thanks Tom. But I'm starving so let's go," Leslie stated as they made their way through the crowd towards the front door.

"Hey, Benihana! Come with Leslie and me to get some nourishment. We can have a Andy and April's Fancy Party After Party."

"Huh, what?"

"You wanna come get some real food with us," Leslie explained.

"Oh, no thanks I drove Chris here," Ben explained as he gestured to where Chris was dancing. It looked as if the man had ants in his pants.

"Oh, Ben it's okay. Go ahead with them I was thinking of jogging home anyway," Chris said smiling.

"How did….did you get over here so fast and hear the conversation," Leslie said looking stunned. Ben had looked startled at first but was clearly use to Chris's popping up everywhere.

"That settles it. Come eat with us. It can be an after party and a congrats on the new job and staying in Pawnee celebration. Celebrate….Celebrate…..," Tom started singing as he leaped out of the door.

"Um, I'll meet you guys there."

"Yeah, see you there," Leslie said and the two departed with a smile.

"So it's almost time for the master plan. You picked the perfect time to join City Hall. The Master Plan is riveting. It's a nonstop thrill ride. Are you ready to get a bunch of memos from me?" Leslie said with a huge smile on her face.

"Am I ready? When did you slow down on the memos?"

"I've slowed down on the memos."

"You're right, somewhat. You don't send quiet as many memos instead you just track me down to tell me the thirty reasons why the tennis court needs resurfacing instead of bettering the water supply."

"Once again I'll say it, there are thirty reasons why the tennis court needs to be resurfaced and there is only one reason to better the water supply, so people have healthier water blah blah blah. They can just buy bottled water if they're so concerned."

"Also sending April to quietly sit in my office and stare at me in hopes that I'll give in isn't going to work. It is creepy but it's not going to work.

"I'll be back. Tommy needs to go flirt with that waitress Sara. I've been laying some major groundwork for the last month."

"It's Rebecca," Leslie muttered.

"Thanks for looking out," Tom said as he left the table leaving Ben and Leslie alone.

"So April and Andy just decided to get married? Just like that? After dating for a month?"

"Yeah."

"Oh, is she pregnant?" Ben whispered.

"No. April says she's not. They just decided to get married," Leslie explained completely flabbergasted by the entire thing.

"Wow," Ben said as equally shocked.

"Uh, this is just insane. I'm not the only person that thinks that, right?" Leslie questioned.

"Oh, I think they're insane too," Ben agreed.

"She's just so young. My little intern is married. It seems like just yesterday she was complaining about school and not eating the crust on her sandwich. And you know why it seems like just yesterday? Because it was literally just yesterday. I mean, the crust thing I get because crust is gross but she has her whole future ahead of her and I just worry she's limiting herself. Not because it's Andy. I like them together. They're good for each other. It's just that she's so young and they have not been together that long. Relationships are already hard and they're just stacking the odds against themselves higher and higher. Lightning rod- a relationship. Double lightning rod- they've only been together six weeks and April is a baby- Triple Lighting Rod," Leslie rambled.

"I have food in my refrigerator that is older than their relationship."

"You should probably clean out your fridge when you get home," Ben suggested.

"It was so last minute. I mean if I had known I was attending a wedding I wouldn't have worn a blazer. Or I would have at least worn a dress under my blazer. And oh my god I just realized that April is practically old enough to be my daughter."

"Wow, ….I get it. April's practically old enough to be my daughter," Ben related.

"I've been rambling and spiraling. Sorry," Leslie apologized.

"Oh, it's cool. Really, it's fine," Ben reassured her.

Leslie sighed and took a bite of her waffle and Ben took a bite of his, with it came quiet and unbeknownst to each other each suddenly felt a bit shy. Leslie put a piece of hair behind her ear and looked over to her left where Tom was flirting with a waitress. He was making huge gestures and Leslie could tell Tom was telling a story. A story that was a lie. It broke her out of any feelings of awkwardness and she turned back to her waffle.

"I am happy for them, for Andy and April. They seem to….. be really good for each other and they really care about each other. I guess that's…a good place to start. April hates everything and it was nice seeing her smile and Andy….the way he…he looked at her….," Leslie smiled.

"Yeah, they both seemed really…happy," Ben agreed.

"Well, on the bright side if it works out they will be considered extremely brave," Ben said very matter of factly, "Of course, on the flip side if it does not work out they will be considered extremely stupid.

"Funny how that works out," Leslie commented with a smile.

"Yeah."

"So do you think Tom would notice if I took a piece of his bacon?" Leslie inquired.

"Well, he is the one that invited us to eat with him and he has been gone for like 90% of the time we've been sitting here since he left us to go flirt with that waitress. So does it really matter?"

"It does not. Here, you deserve his bacon too. After all, Tom wanted to take you to dinner to celebrate you staying in Pawnee and he's not here," Leslie said as she offered a piece of bacon to Ben and took one for herself.

"She looks like she is hanging on his every word," Ben said before taking a bite of his (Tom's) bacon.

"Yeah, I can tell he's telling a huge unbelievable lie from all the way over here. What do you think he's saying to her?"

"Um, how about, he's telling her how Taye Diggs and him got kicked out of a club in Indianapolis together," Ben suggested.

"Tom thinks that the Indianapolis part of the story makes it realistic. I'd say the him and Taye Diggs part makes it unrealistic."

"He's probably also telling her about the time he was pulled up on stage at a Jay Z concert."

"I'm sure he'll also mention how he saw Daniel Craig getting tea and scones at Doug's Donuts. I certainly never believed him when he told me that," Leslie sheepishly stated.

"Oh, he's walking over."

"Hey, what'd I miss nerds?" Tom smugly stated as he sat and began eating his waffle.

"Oh just talking about Andy and April's wedding mostly," Leslie offered.

"So what's the consensus on that?"

"We think they're insane but we're also happy for them," Ben supplied as he and Leslie shared a small smile.

"Have we started a pool for bets yet?" Tom asked with a wide smile.

"Tom, please."

"You didn't answer my question."

"We are not making a bet on whether or not a newly married couple will last. But if we were I'd win," Leslie said trailing off into a whisper towards the end.

"Alright, alright. How about we take this after party to the Glitter Lounge?" Tom asked but was only meant with disgusted looks and no's.

"How about we grab Jean Ralphio and do laser tag, go to the Snakehole, go to the Wamapoke Casino and you guys give me some money to throw on the craps table, go to KFC and you guys talk me up to this girl that works there, or we go camp out at Brooks Brothers because they're having a sale starting tomorrow?"

All of Tom's suggestions we meant with no's and he lamented about how he wished they were Donna instead of lame nerds. They all parted ways in the cool night air of the now quiet town where everyone was settling down to sleep.

Tom fell asleep dreaming of a three piece suit he had his eye on and Leslie and Ben closed their eyes as hope flooded through their souls. They had a feeling that tomorrow would hold something new.


	14. Breakups,Friends&The Thoughts that

**Breakups, Friendship, and Thoughts That Keep You Up at Night**

_Takes place after the season 3 episode Indianapolis _

"Hey."

"Hey look whose socializing!" Leslie exclaimed.

"Yeah and I'm having a good time," Ben commented and it was true.

"Come sit with us," Leslie offered with a smile.

"Okay."

"Ann's in kind of a crappy mood cause Chris dumped her," Leslie explained.

"Ahh, like a week ago right," Ben said with a sympathetic smile.

"Yeah, but I didn't know about it until an hour ago," Ann lamented.

"Oh, so that's why you tried to kiss him. We were all seriously confused about that," Ben stated as Ann groaned and laid her head down on the bar.

"Beautiful Ann here isn't use to being dumped and Chris did it in such a positive way that she had no idea. So I drove her back here, told her some humiliating break up stories to make her feel better, and now I'm getting her boos."

"Ahh, you both drove back from Indianapolis tonight? I thought you were getting that accommodation for the Harvest Festival?"

"Yeah, I'm just gonna let Ron accept it. We were eating dinner at Chris' condo when Ann dropped by. She thought Chris was cheating on her and then I perpetuated it when I saw a pink swim cap and razor," Leslie rambled on.

"He swims," Ben explained.

"Yeah, we found that out but it was too late."

"Hey, hey, hey," Donna and Tom chorused as they greeted their friends.

"What's up Annie?" Tom asked.

Ann groaned. Leslie explained. Ann asked Leslie if she had to tell everyone at the bar. Leslie apologized. Ann said it was okay as she didn't have the energy to pretend everything was normal anyways.

"Donna, tell Ann some humiliating breakup stories to make her feel better!" Leslie pleaded.

"Okay, well this one time I was dating this basketball player, from the Pacers. He would always call me when he was in the city, give me free tickets, tell me he wasn't sleeping around when he was at away games, but he hardly ever got off the bench so I broke up with his stationary ass. Only talent positions for Donna Meagle. I told him it was over but he kept calling me saying, "Baby, you're the only girl for me. Blah blah blah." So I went to his game and held up this huge sign that said "Jaquan Burkowitz IT's OVER. DON'T EVER CALL ME AGAIN." Another time I was just flirting with this guy and I finally agreed to go out on a date with him but then he canceled cause he had the flu and he wanted to reschedule. But I said, "Sorry, Larry Bird. You don't get no second chances with Donna Meagle. I once broke up with a guy through a slam poem, a message in a bottle aka I put a breakup note in a bottle and then hit him in the head with it, and I once dated this opera singer so when I was helping him rehearse for his play I started changing the words of the song and operatically broke up with him. Then, this one time I was fly fishing with Anthony Bourdain in the Seychelles and then he tried to correct me on the type of fish I had caught. I know my fish. I went back to our tent, took his passport and threw it in the ocean, got on a boat, and went back to the airport. Bitch was stranded for 6 weeks."

By her Larry Bird story everyone was staring at Donna with wide eyes and an open mouth.

"Dang girl," Tom voiced.

"I had meant stories where you had been the recipient of an embarrassing breakup, Donna."

"Girl, I've never been broken up with. Donna Meagle does the breaking up. I have humiliated a lot of guys but they deserved it. Like Chris I have also gently broken up with guys in ways that they don't realize we are broken up. And sometimes I breakup with guys by making them think it is mutual. One time I had a guy, this fine ass astrophysist, who was clingy as a koala bear constantly blowing up my phone begging me to come back to him. So I just manipulated him into thinking that the breakup was his idea and he accepted it."

"None of those stories would make Ann feel better. Tom, your turn. Tell Ann your humiliating breakup stories," Leslie prodded.

"Um, well this girl was like Tommy I'm the girl of your dreams. Please don't dump me. I know you're a ten and I'm only a seven but," Leslie interrupted him, "Tom stories when you have been dumped. We ALL know you have them."

"Leslie was rejected via singing telegram!" Tom exclaimed.

"I forgot about that one. I asked a guy out twice using a singing telegram. The first time he had said no. I thought maybe it was the song choice so I tried again," Leslie said her eyes downcast before looking back up, "Now Tom go."

"Ok. Usually, girls just beg me to never call them or see them again. I can't go within 75 yards of Pawnee's Taco Bell."

"Thank you Tom. And to show my appreciation I'll pick you up a chulupa next time I go."

"Okay, that only leaves you Ben. Go for it."

"Oh, um, I don't know. Getting broken up with on the steps of the Partridge City Hall while newspaper reporters and plenty of other people watched was a cherry on top of the humiliation of being recalled as mayor sundae."

"Aww, what's another one?" Leslie asked.

"Um, a few times I thought I was dating a girl. But they just wanted help with their homework. We were in the library so the rejection really echoed through the building."

"Well, libraries are evil Ben," Leslie stated as if he would've avoided it had he stayed away from the library.

"I've also had that experience," Leslie said a bit under her breath.

"This is my jam!" Tom exclaimed as he and Donna danced away to an Usher song.

"I'm gonna get Ann another drink," Leslie stated leaving Ben and Ann alone. Ben wasn't sure if he should leave or not as he was Chris's friend so it was a bit of an awkward situation. Ann had her head face down on the table and Ben sat in silence.

"I'm sorry," Ann began after lifting her head up, "This is probably really awkward for you because Chris is your friend."

"Oh, it's okay. I know how he can be. I get it."

"Has he had other women not realize their relationship was over because he ended it so nicely?"

"Um, well, you see, um, no."

"So who was this we, "we were all trying to figure it out."

"Oh, just me and a couple of the guys that work in auditing. We were just catching up when we went back to Indy last weekend."

"So when are you going back to Indy? I was surprised you and Chris didn't leave at the same time."

"We normally leave at the same time. It's supposed to be um, in 9 days. But they pulled Chris at the last minute to work at this conference thing so he went back to Indy and I'm finishing up here."

"Here's your drink Ann."

"Thanks Leslie."

"So did you say you leave in 9 days?" Leslie sheepishly asked as she fiddled with the umbrella from her drink.

"Yeah, nine days."

Ann broke through the silence, "Okay, so I have a question and I know Chris is your friend so if I'm outta line just tell me to shut up and no harm done. Please feel free. I was clearly confused so I'm questioning a lot of things now. This is awkward but can you tell me why Chris broke up with me? I just want to make sure I understand."

"Uh, well," Ben awkwardly began, "He genuinely liked, likes you, he just…With our jobs and all the traveling…. it's not really….it's not really… conducive to… relationships," Ben explained.

"It's just that he didn't even ask me if I was interested in trying long distance."

"Maybe he just didn't want to risk ruining what you had by putting you through that."

"Does Chris always come into town, date a woman, and then breakup with her and leave?"

"No. Look, yeah Chris can easily make friends and meet women but he…  
"Has standards," Leslie supplied.

"Yeah,…..I mean do you think he's going to date someone who eats at Ponch Burger everyday?"

"So has Chris ever…..had a long distance relationship…with a woman he met when….he was on the road?" Leslie asked with her head down.

"Um, I remember he did once. Around the time we started working together. She lived in Fort Wayne. The distance was a problem…it's not easy….it didn't really end well," Ben revealed hoping he wasn't sharing too much information about his friend. He just hoped that Ann would understand why Chris hasn't attempted having a long distance relationship with her in spite of how much he truly did care about her. After all, Ben could relate. He too had failed at long distance relationships. Ben was currently wondering if he might be willing to try it again if there was someone that he really liked. Might it be worth it? As his time in Pawnee was rapidly coming to a close the thoughts of relationships, dating, a certain passionate determined blonde woman, and what to do about all of these feeling he just couldn't get out of his head were something he couldn't ignore anymore. It was started to keep him awake at night. Ben had a feeling that Chris would grow to regret leaving Ann Perkins behind and Ben had a feeling he, himself, would regret not acting on his feelings for Leslie.

After Ann had decided to try to put on a happy face and dance with Tom and Donna to see if that would get her out of her funk Ben and Leslie were left alone. They talked about Indianapolis, their friends crazy dance moves, how Ben deals with the always enthusiastic vitamin guzzling Chris Trager, and Tom's failure concerning Dennis Feinstein before their friends rejoined them and they all headed to JJ's to partake in some late night pie and coffee.


	15. The Signs Were There

_Explores how the Parks department found out about Ben and Leslie's secret relationship and Ben and Leslie discuss how and why it took them so long to figure out they liked each other._

**The Sign Were There**

On _Wednesday,_ Ben met Leslie at the Smallest Park. They said screw it. They knew it was worth risk to be together. They kissed; expressing how much they wanted to be together, how strongly they felt for each other, how they never wanted to be apart, and how this was it. They were "it" for each other. They broke their embrace and drove back to Leslie's house where they whispered promises and regrets to each other amidst kisses.

On _Thursday_, Ben and Leslie reassured each other that they had no regrets and were moving forward. They would tell Chris on Friday. It would be better to tell him at the end of the week. That way they wouldn't have to deal with awkwardness or gossip right away and would have a better idea of where they stood before they left for the weekend. Unbeknownst to each other they had both worked late trying to tie up any loose ends in case their days at city hall were numbered.

On _Friday, at 4:15_, Ben and Leslie told Chris that they _had_ been secretly dating, had broken up, and had just gotten back together. Chris told them they would have to undergo an ethics trial and then he proclaimed he had to work off his stress by jogging a spontaneous 10K. Before he walked out of his office, leaving them alone, Chris turned to Ben and Leslie and asked them if they were sure. Leslie didn't really understand what he meant. _Ben understood and replied with a confident, "Yes"._ At _4:40_ Ben told his and Chris's secretary. Ben told her he wanted her to know since she would likely be called as a witness at the ethics trial and he apologized hoping he didn't shake her trust in him or in government. She sincerely told Ben she really hoped everything worked out. At _4:43_ Leslie gathered her people in the Parks conference room and told them about her secret affair with their boss, Ben Wyatt. She apologized for not being a good example, for letting them down, and hoped that she did not shake their faith in her or the government.

On _Saturday_, Leslie told her mom over dinner. Marlene told Leslie that, "Well, you've hardly ever made a decent decision in regards to dating but I think you're doing the right thing. Ben has something to offer and you two seem good together. He is a bit of a "nervous nelly" though, for lack of a better term. And you're not getting any younger so why the hell not take this risk!" Afterwards, Leslie brought the leftover brownies she had made to Ben's place, where she stayed the night, and pouted that she didn't get any of the brownies because Andy had scarfed them all down before she got a chance to eat one, though she had one at her mother's house.

On _Sunday_, Ben and Leslie tried not to think of their upcoming ethics hearing. They drove to Snerling to take a walk in the now rather barren, as it was winter, Snerling Gardens and occupied their time with a documentary on the Founding Fathers pausing it to makeout on the couch.

On _Monday_, Chris informed them that the board had decided to have Leslie's ethics trial on Thursday and Ben's on Friday. Unbeknownst to Ben and Leslie, Chris had requested that the hearing be held at the end of the week. He did so with purpose. Chris knew if the trials were at the end of the week the media wouldn't oversaturate the airwaves with the story as they'd be off for the weekend and gossip at city hall would be lessened by everyone going home for the weekend.

On _Tuesday_, Ben and Leslie both continued tying up any loose ends in case the worst case scenario happened. Leslie then informed her campaign managers about her secret affair. They were not pleased but said the campaign would halt until they ran some poll numbers and determined the public's opinion on the scandal.

On _Wednesday a week after they had reunited_, Ben and Leslie had both heard whispers and felt stares that informed them that their scandal was beginning to get out as departmental witnesses had been summoned for the trial.

On _Thursday,_ Ben resigned in disgrace. He packed up his personal items under the watch of security and was walked out of the building. Leslie was given a suspension and was also walked out by security. She then hid in her car waiting for Ethel Beavers to come out and bargained for her help. Leslie had to bake something for the city hall potluck next month on Ethel's behalf, do the woman's laundry for a month, and walk her dog for the rest of winter. Leslie and Ben then exchanged I love you's in person.

On _Friday_, day one in Leslie's suspension and Ben's unemployment after resigning in disgrace, the two had been rather restless. They were caught between feelings of doom concerning their careers and Leslie's campaign and feelings of euphoria concerning the fact that they no longer had to hide their relationship. The feelings of relief and fear alternated in their brains and bodies. Thankfully, regret was nowhere to be found. Ben had spent some time cleaning up April and Andy's messes in their house and Leslie had even spent some time cleaning up her own messes in her house. Leslie had taken up some cross stitching and Ben dived into a book. Ben polished up his resume and hoped his parents, particularly his father, would never find out he resigned in disgrace. Leslie hoped her uppity aunt who was on a cruise would never be informed by her noisy cousin that Leslie had been involved in another sex scandal (Dexhart had been the first though it had all been lies). Ben showed up on Chris's doorstep to apologize and make sure he hadn't ruined their friendship. Ben had felt sick to his stomach every time he thought of how he was lying to a man he had known and worked closely with for a dozen years. Chris reassured him that there were no hard feelings and knew as level headed as Ben was that he had to be making the right risk in being with Leslie. Ben and Leslie also spent a significant amount of time wrapped up with each other in bed as the snow fell outside and the cold winter wind blew. They reveled in being reunited and didn't want to let each other go as they whispered about all the public places they could now freely go as a couple.

Later that night as Ben and Leslie laid in his bed, her house was an even worst disaster since she had been trying to clean it, while the sounds of Andy's video game buzzed through the wall the two laid in a quiet bliss.

"So you never really told me specifically how everyone reacted when they found out," Ben spoke softly. Leslie thought back to the conversation she had with her coworkers when she told them of her and Ben's secret affair as she explained to Ben how everyone had reacted.

_"__I have gathered you all here because I need to tell you something. I have been keeping a secret. I hope that what I am about to tell you does not lessen your opinion of me, your trust in me, or your trust in the local government of this wonderful city of Pawnee, Indiana. Just under a year ago I began a secret relationship. This relationship was forbidden due to governmental ethics as it was between two employees in leadership positions specifically a boss and subordinate. We knew that the relationship was against the rules," Leslie stated as Tom and Donna sat with their eyes wide and their mouths open in shock. Ron sat stoically and April looked bored. Andy looked suspicious for some reason though he knew of the secret forbidden relationship. _

_Leslie continued, "So we tried to ignore our feelings for each other. However, we gave into our feelings and we kissed. It was excellent. I didn't need to say that. We began dating in secret. Then I was approached with the opportunity to run for city council and that with the fact that our relationship was a scandal waiting to be exposed caused us to breakup. However, we very recently got back together. We have decided to be together and tell the truth. The person I engaged in a forbidden romantic relationship with is assistant city manager Ben Wyatt." _

_Donna's shocked expression then moved into a smile as did Tom's. _

_"__We told the city manager Chris Trager of our romantic involvement. We will be having an ethics trial at and we will accept our punishment. I am sorry that I have lied to you all and violated your trust and I am also sorry for the position this puts you all in as many of you will likely be called upon to testify in our ethics trial."_

_"__Girl," Donna exclaimed, "I knew you two doe eyed nerds were majorly crushing on each other but I never thought you two would have the guts to have a secret forbidden relationship. Look, I like you and Ben way more now. A secret forbidden relationship, I mean I been there and done that, but that takes guts for someone like you two. You two are gonna have the nerdiest whitest babies alive."_

_"__Okay," Leslie responded not sure of what to say. _

_"__Well, I am totally surprised and disappointed in you young lady or I would be if I cared. I respect a good lie," April said with a smirk._

_"__Did you guys ever noticed that painting of the deer and grass is like camouflage?" Andy commented._

_"__So, you a nerd boy. Makes sense cause you're both nerds. I gotta say I'm impressed. A sex scandal is on my bucket list. I didn't know you and nerd boy had it in you for a sex scandal. I just….wow…I had no idea you two liked each other in a romantic way. Well, it is like 5:01 and work ends a five so adios people," Tom said as he and everyone else started to say their goodbyes and filter out of the room. Leslie was left alone in the conference room and sat at the head of the table deep in thought about her coworkers reactions until Jerry walked into the room telling her goodnight. Once he had left Leslie realized that Jerry had missed everything, "Oh well, he'll hear about it soon enough," Leslie thought to herself._

As the couple laid in bed Leslie couldn't stop wondering how Tom had no clue. April and Andy had found out because Ben lived with them and April had investigated her suspicions while taking Andy along for the ride. April and Andy, dressed as Janet Snakehole and Bert Macklin respectively, had shown up at Leslie's house and invited themselves inside discovering Ben was there, at Leslie's house, not at a sci-fi movie like he always said when he left the house at night. Donna had known that they liked each other and had deduced a relationship was forbidden but she never thought they would go for it. Ron had found out after an unfortunate and awkward butt dial. And Tom, well Tom was completely clueless.

"How did Tom have absolutely no clue about us? I mean you, me, and Tom worked incredibly close together on the Harvest Festival. He saw us blossoming into something. He was literally there while things were unfolding. I mean, that one time he made that get a room comment. But Tom claims to be completely surprised that we were secretly hooking up. I guess to be fair I wasn't really aware the entire time that we were becoming something. Were you?" Leslie asked Ben.

"Not always. I guess at first I tried to shake off any feelings because I'd be leaving Pawnee soon and then I was just… taking it step by step trying to… figure out if you…you liked me, and then trying to get the guts to tell you that I liked you," Ben answered.

Leslie's face broke out into a huge smile.

"You are so cute. I asked you out on a date."

"Well, I couldn't be one hundred percent sure that it was a date and by then I knew that we were forbidden so I was trying to avoid one on one situations outside of City Hall."

"I asked you to dance at the Snakehole that one time."

"You could've just needed someone to dance with and I was nearby," Ben replied.

"I kind of wanted you to see that Diaphena painting. Okay, I totally wanted you to see that Diaphena painting… and see what you were missing out on. I knew about the rule then but I still wanted you to want me which is a dirty game but I couldn't resist. I turned the painting around on purpose so that you would see it."

"I kind of thought maybe you did. But I couldn't be a hundred percent sure. Maybe it was just easier to carry that way."

"There were so many signs. I really think you should've picked up on the signs."

"Well, maybe you should've noticed the signs," Ben commented.

"I talked to Ann so she would know how sorry you were about the fight you two had."

"I thought that was really sweet but a friend could've also done something like that."

"I made you chicken soup from scratch when I lived in a motel."

"Lots of people make sick people chicken soup when they're sick. I bet Martha Stewart does."

"I asked you if you thought I should stay in Pawnee."

"I thought there was some significant weight to that question but I wasn't 100% completely sure."

"So we've established that we can both be big chickens and clueless morons," Leslie stated.

"Yeah," Ben agreed.

"I blame Tom. He was around us constantly and never took notice and he could've clued us in. Looking back Tom was privy to so many signs," Leslie reasoned.

"Yeah. Tom really should've taken notice. I bet he was just too wrapped up in himself."

"Yup."

"You know Andy was the first person to say something to me. He thought there was something going on between us," Ben explained.

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah, of course he thought you stole money from me. Anyways, once I told him I thought we liked each other he was really supportive."

"Well, here's to Andy, April, and Ann for their support and to us because we finally dove in and got together," Leslie said as she and Ben did one of their classic nerdy handshakes sealing it with a kiss.

_Please review. Tell me what you liked and what you didn't like._


	16. Ben's Birthday Spectacular

**Ben's Birthday Spectacular**

Ben had just gotten home from his birthday dinner with Chris. Andy and April we're watching a very loud horror movie as they ate ramen noodles out of the pot they had cooked it in, a common practice for the couple. After greeting his roommates and entering his room Ben sat down to take off his shoes. As he started to take off his tie his phone beeped with a text.

"Look outside your window." The text said from a blocked number. April loved to prank call people, including Ben. Ben walked to his bedroom door and slowly cracked it open. Andy and April hadn't moved. Ben then heard a rustling outside his window. Cautiously, sure that Andy and April were playing a trick on him or god forbid Orin was here to murder him, Ben peeked through his blinds.

"Oh my god," Ben exclaimed and then rolled up his blinds and slid the window pane up.

"Hey," Leslie whispered through the screen.

"What are you doing?" Ben said pleasantly surprised to see his secret girlfriend at his window.

"I couldn't not celebrate your birthday on a day other than your actual birthday," Leslie explained.

"I parked three blocks away in a visitor's spot at that apartment complex on Maple and I brought birthday supplies,' Leslie explained holding a bag up to the window.

"Open the window."

"Yeah, uh…..how do I open the window?"

"Um, I don't know. People on tv are always crawling through people's windows. It can't be too hard, lets just uh….I have no idea. I didn't think this through enough. I think I just heard a raccoon."

"Um, oh. Should I pull these silver things? Will it break the window?

"I don't know but I just heard another raccoon. They're communicating with each other."

"It's working," Ben whispered back as he was able to slowly move the screen out, "I think if I move the screen anymore it will break off or something."

"I think I can crawl through there. Here," Leslie said handing Ben two of her bags.

Leslie then hoisted herself through the gap allowing Ben to pull her through. It was a bit clumsy and resulted in some quiet laughter. Finally, Leslie was upright and a bit out of breath.

"Hi," the couple said to each other. Ben leaned in to kiss Leslie but was thwarted when she exclaimed,

"Wait, I have one more thing!" Leslie looked out the window to check for raccoons and then leaned out of the window again, struggling to reach the item. She would've toppled out of the window head first if Ben hadn't caught her by the leg.

"I got it," Leslie said as she found her way upright.

"Hi," Leslie said and kissed Ben.

"I've never crawled through a window before."

"Neither have I. Or had someone crawl through my window," Ben responded before kissing Leslie again.

"The text you sent said blocked number. I thought it might be Orin coming to murder me."

"I wanted to surprise you so I blocked my number," Leslie grinned.

"Okay, so I have to set up. Close your eyes or leave the room for…5 minutes.

When Ben returned to his room there was a "Happy Birthday" banner above his bed, some wrapped gifts, brownies, wine, and 3 balloons. Ben walked into his room with a smile, amazed at what Leslie had done in such a short amount of time.

"Operation Ben's Birthday Spectacular begins! I didn't bring any party hats this time because you have really great hair and it shouldn't be covered up," Leslie said making Ben shyly smile.

"So did you have cake today?"

"Yeah. Our secretary made a cake. Chris had three bites."

"Wow."

"Alright, I figured you would've had cake already so I brought brownies."

The couple then sat on Ben's bed, whispering to each other stories of past birthdays, and eating their brownies; topped with loads of whip cream, Leslie insisted, as the sound from the horror movie Andy and April were watching boomed through the air.

"How was your birthday dinner with Chris?" Leslie cautiously asked.

"It was a normal dinner with normal food," Ben assured her.

"Chris didn't take you to some weird place and make you eat seaweed kale kabobs or something?"

"No. Not for my birthday but we are having dinner at some healthy Asian fusion place that has seaweed in Snerling next Saturday. I don't even know what that means. But I'm getting older Chris said so I should really focus more on health and I've never ate seaweed which Chris said is a travesty and a superfood so…it should be…..interesting."

"Eating seaweed. That sounds tragic. That's on par with genocide. I didn't even know people ate seaweed. I was just joking when I said seaweed. People really eat seaweed," Leslie said raising her voice to which Ben shushed her.

After the brownies were ate and some wine consumed Leslie declared it was gift time.

"Open. Open. Open," Leslie chanted through whispers.

Ben unwrapped a pillow Leslie had embroidered with a newspaper headline from the day he was born, a framed newspaper story that had declared "Pawnee Saved From Epic Financial Doom Or Is It? (which could've had the potential to make Ben tear up because he remembered how threatened Leslie had felt when he had first shown up in town as state auditor), and a painting of the Pawnee seal.

"Thanks. Really thank you, it means a lot. You're a really good gift giver."

"I'm a great gift giver. Ask anyone."

"I just said you were a great gift giver."

"And others would agree is all I'm saying."

Ben didn't speak of it but this was probably the best birthday he could ever remember happening. These days birthdays were spent on the road and as a kid birthdays were dreaded as they had the potential to open up a can of worms between his bitterly divorced parents.

"I have one more gift. It is of the sexy variety," Leslie smiled, "So turn around and close your eyes."

"Okay."

Leslie took off her black sweatshirt (she had been wearing what she referred to as her sneak around clothes) moving her hands to make sure things were in place and where they were supposed to be.

"Turn around," Leslie said as she knelt on the bed.

Ben turned around and bit his lip to keep from smiling.

In addition to Leslie's jeans she was wearing a vest buttoned up but with no shirt on underneath. He hadn't known that was of the "sexy variety" before but now he knew better.

"So what's the sexy gift?" Ben questioned looking around the room. But he couldn't keep from breaking out into a smile.

Leslie threw a pillow at him, "These buttons might not pop open for you."

"Oh, that would be a tragedy. On par with eating seaweed and genocide. And it is my birthday," Ben reasoned as he walked towards Leslie on the bed. Once his legs hit the bed Leslie wrapped her arms around her secret boyfriend as he leaned down for a kiss and they tumbled back onto the bed.


	17. You're Leslie Knope You Wait for No Man

**You're Leslie Knope You Wait for No Man**

"So that is the full progress report of my dating life," Ann reported with a smile.

"Well, I am impressed you sleek bobcat. You seem to be having a lot of fun."

"Yeah, I never just dated guys to date, ya know? I was always in relationships and thought that if I was dating a guy it needed to lead somewhere or it was a waste of time."

"How'd Andy sneak in there?" Leslie whispered under her breath as the waitress came to their table and asked for their order.

"Maybe you should try dating around too? Donna has a lot of good tips. That woman gets around."

"Oh, I don't know. That's not really my thing."

"It wasn't mine either but now that I've tried it I really regret not just dating around when I was younger."

"Well, I went on a lot of first dates and dated around a bit when I was my twenties. Hence my hang ups about first dates and all of the terrible ways I have been broken up with."

Ann nodded in understanding.

"I just, I've come to feel that, like I don't mind being alone on Friday night. You know, it'd be nice to have "my someone" be there when I came home from work Monday night. Someone I could talk to about my day and watch tv with, someone to be there for me and I could be there for him. I'm just at the point where if it happens, if I meet someone then that would be great. Amazing. And if I don't then I'll be okay. My twenty year old self would probably be devastated that I'm not married with kids by now but I still have plenty of great things in my life. I've accomplished a lot, it's mostly career related, but my career is important to me and I have great friends and a wonderful land mermaid bff. Besides I can always have a love affair with my campaign manager when I'm running for president."

"That's a great outlook. I kind of feel the same way. Like why stress. Things will happen when they happen. So, in the meantime, do you have your eye on any guy?"

Leslie cast her eyes downward as a small smile swept across her face.

"I might like someone," Leslie confessed to Ann who was now smiling back.

"Spill."

"The Assistant City Manager of Pawnee, Ben Wyatt."

"I know who Ben is and I'm not surprised you like him. I've seen some flirting going down between you two. And ya know what? I think he likes you two."

"Really? Good, I kind of think so too."

"Yeah, so when did you realize you like him?"

"Well, I kind of forgot that he was only here temporarily. I guess he just kind of became, one of us. So when he mentioned he was to be leaving Pawnee I got kind of bummed out that he was leaving. I realized I'd miss him if he left and I'd feel like there was something….unfinished between us. It kind of just snuck up on me. But he's not leaving so….". Leslie started gushing, "And he's just so nice, I feel like we have so much in common, and he's so cute. Like he's always actually been pretty cute except for when he was being a fascist hardass. Actually, he was pretty cute then too."

"You should ask him out," Ann voiced clasping her hands together in excitement.

"Should I? Uh, I don't know. I mean I kind of thought that he likes me too but he hasn't made a move. We work together so I'd be awkward if I ask him out and he says no. Though he could be thinking the same thing."

"You should ask him out. Leslie Knope waits for no man. Besides I really really think that he likes you. And just ask him out to dinner after work. You don't have to say it's a date. Go to dinner and see what happens. That way you can gauge whether or not you think he wants it to be a date.

"Yeah, okay. I'm gonna do it. Next time I see Ben I'm going to ask him to dinner!"

"Yeah, grab destiny by the balls," Ann exclaimed feeling empowered.

"I don't like that expression. Let's say grab destiny by the…round objects. Uh, that kind of makes it lose it's power. Whatever. I'm gonna go for it. Que sera sera!"


	18. It Led Me to You

_The last chapter (17) I posted was messed up so I deleted in an reposted it. _

**It Led Me To You **

"So April told me that you came close to being mayor but you didn't want it?" Leslie softly spoke. They were in bed with the triplets piled in between them after falling asleep watching a movie on a rainy Friday night.

"Yeah, appointing yourself as mayor seems like an egomaniacal move but almost necessary when no one else is qualified because they're…. terribly….. horrible."

"Well, Jennifer Barkley called me and told me she thought it would've been a great political move. You could've become mayor and then proved that you were mayor of a town and you didn't screw it up. Also, she told me to tell you that she will be calling you tomorrow to chew you out. So why didn't you want to become mayor? You know that you wouldn't have screwed it up, right?" Leslie said looking Ben in the eye.

"I know. I could've done it and not screwed the town up. But I….I didn't….. need to do it. I've proved myself enough to everyone and to myself," Ben explained, "I mean I spent twelve years in a job that made me move around from town to town. There were a lot of things I liked about that job but I realize that I didn't love it. I punished myself enough living in a perpetual state of regret and shame. But I don't regret Icetown…. Not anymore. It led me here, to Pawnee, to the kids, and to you," Ben said as a proud smile took over his face. That smile was mirrored on Leslie's face as she leaned over a sleeping Wesley and Sonia (Stephen was horizontal at the foot of the bed) and kissed her husband.


	19. The Five Stages of Grief

**The 5 Stages of Grief: Denial, Anger, Internet Commenting, Cat Adoption, African Dance, Cat Returning to the Adoption Agency, Watching All of the Episodes of Murphy Brown, And Not Giving a Flying Fart**

**Denial **

"Maybe there was a mistake like last time and there needs to be a recount," Leslie suggested looking hopeful after sucking every last bit of milkshake from her straw. Ann had made an emergency milkshake run after the results came out not in Leslie's favor.

"The margin isn't narrow enough for a recall," Ben said squeezing Leslie's shoulder.

"Well, are we sure?"

"What if….we just heard the results wrong? Did everyone hear Perd say that I was recalled?"

Everyone shook their heads yes. The room was silent and somber.

"Well, maybe they counted wrong and tomorrow we'll find out differently."

Everyone exchanged worried looks.

"What if…..what if…whaaaaaaat….iffffffffffffff…..what if. Someone give me another what if?"

"What if…there was voter fraud?"

"Yes, what if?" Leslie said and then walked out of the office.

"Dammit Jerry," everyone telled.

**Anger**

"I'm gonna go buy some more toilet paper."

"Why?" Ben asked confused since she was struggling to hold about 12 rolls in her hands.

"So we can teepee the houses of my enemies," Leslie incredulously stated as though Ben should already know.

"Um, what? We can't do that."

"Oh, so you have a better idea? How did you get revenge after you got impeached?" Leslie stated smiling.

"Well, I bottled my emotions up and spent 12 years hacking up budgets. Anyways, no, we can't vandalize. It's against the law. Also, we are adults not thirteen."

"Well, I couldn't come up with any better ideas."

"Look, I know you are angry. You didn't deserve to be recalled and you want those that made this happen to pay but you'll get them back. You'll show them how stupid they were to recall Leslie Knope. You'll show them how stupid they were by all the great things you are going to accomplish one day. You still have a lot left to give. And you will still will accomplish great things and help this town, it just won't be through city council. But you're not done. This is just a…..pit stop," Ben reassured Leslie.

"But I want revenge now!" Leslie pouted causing her to drop her towers of toilet paper.

Leslie and Ben both bent down to pick up the rolls.

"It's just not fair."

"I know."

"I have an idea."

"We shoot something."

"No. When my dad got angry, which is often, actually sometimes he would shoot something. But he would often swing at golf balls."

"That could work. Let's go."

"Leslie, it's dark outside and we don't have golf clubs."

"I have golf clubs and the Pawnee Golf Course is run by the Parks Department and I am Leslie Knope. So let's go."

"What about raccoons?"

"We should bring a gun for protection."

"Do you have a gun somewhere I don't know about?"

"I have a rifle."

"We can't take a rifle to a golf course that we're not supposed to be at- at night. And how did you sneak a rifle and golf clubs into the house. How have I never seen them?"

"I'll never tell. Oh, and by the way for being from Minnesota you sure are surprisingly afraid of guns. And you hate hunting and camping. You might as well be from New York City."

"Yeah, well. That's a disappointment to you and my father. I always had to do those things with my dad. Just me and my dad alone in woods. No thanks. Oh god, I really must have a lot of daddy issues."

"You really do. Hey, our conversation has distracted me and I'm not angry anymore. Oh, wait now that I remembered I was angry, I feel angry."

Leslie then began grinding her teeth.

"Let's go," Ben suggested

**Internet commenting**

"Ben I emailed you an op ed piece I wrote to the Pawnee Journal on the political status of Taiwan. I'd like you to proof it for me. Also, you have to hear this comment from this guy arguing about my comment. We are now going back and forth. He's saying terrible things about Michelle Obama and I will defend her to the ends of the earth or our internet connection goes down. I gotta start from the beginning. So let me start by playing you this video of a Siamese cat and a prairie dog becoming best friends. Ready, Ben? Ben? Ben? And your asleep," Leslie whispered as she leaned closer to Ben, whose back was to her in bed.

"Party pooper," Leslie said and then looked at the clock on her nightstand, "Oh, it's 1 a.m. Crap on a spatula."

**Cat Adoption**

"Ben. Hey," Leslie shouted as she practically skipped over to him the moment he walked in the door."

"Hey. Um, what's going on?"

"Oh, I just have something I want to show you….in the bedroom."

"Okay, but can I just have a minute I just walked in the door and…..oh god, what am I saying. I'm ready. Let's go," and with that Leslie took Ben by the hand and led him into their bedroom. Leslie let go of Ben's hand and walked to the bathroom door and paused. Meanwhile, Ben took of his suit jacket and was kicking off his shoes when Leslie turned around and motioned for Ben to come to her and then put her finger to her lips motioning him to be quiet. Ben, a bit confused, walked over to Leslie.

"Okay, the surprise is in here," Leslie whispered.

"O…kay," Ben said a bit confused.

Leslie slowly opened the bathroom door and Ben peeked inside.

"What am I looking at?"

"Ahhh," Ben jumped back and Leslie slammed the door closed.

"How did that cat get in there?"

"I adopted it."

"You adopted a cat."

"Yep, I adopted a cat. I know we should've done it together. But I was looking at pictures of cats late last night, well this morning technically. I was looking at decorated bird houses and then that led to baby bunnies which led to kittens which led to otters which somehow led to Bonsai trees and little tea sets, and little foxes, and baby bears. Anyways I just had cats and bunnies on my mind all day. I was going to suggest we go to the adoption place today after work just to see what's out there and if we might want to adopt a cat. I thought we could take care of it, nurture it, watch it grow, love it, teach it tricks, dress it up in Halloween costumes, feature it on our Christmas cards and talk about it in my annual Christmas letter. But then I remembered you had that meeting and would be late so I just drove over there. And I was talking to a lady and she told me that older cats have a hard time getting adopted because everyone wants kittens. And I was looking at the cats and this one just spoke to me. He meowed twice when I looked at him. So I just had to adopt the cat. So I bought a cat bed, scratch post, food, cat nip, cat grass, and collar with a little jingle bell on it. I began cross stitching a picture of the cat. I also began compiling a list of cat names: Cat Middleton, Jude Paw, Hairy Potter, Catnip Everdeen, Blanche Deverpaw. There all great names. Maybe we should get four more cats."

"We just got one cat so let's leave at that for now. Okay, so we have a cat now. Why is it shut in the bathroom and was it trying to lunge at me when you opened the door? It tried to lunge at me didn't it?"

"So the lady at the adoption place said that the cat might be scared to be in a new environment and when you take it home introduce it to a room you'll be in a lot. So I thought I'd bring the cat in here in case it needed us at night. I opened the cat carrier. The cat sniffed around. Then started growling. And it chased me, a bit. We ended up in the bathroom. I was on the counter and the cat jumped up on the windowsill so I ran out and shut the door. And that's what happened."

"Okay…That's not good."

"I think the cat just needs to acclimate and then we gently and quietly introduce ourselves."

"Yeah, I guess."

Leslie doled out some cat treats to both herself and Ben and she slowly cracked the bathroom door open as she and Ben got on their knees. Leslie threw a few cat treats into the bathroom and Ben sprinkled a trail leading three feet out from the door. Then Ben and Leslie sat down a few feet from the end of the trail.

"Hairy Potter," Leslie sing songed. Nothing happened.

"Katnip Everdeen," the cat meowed and they could see it sniffing a treat by the door.

"Hi," Leslie warmly welcomed the cat and motioned for Ben to say something."

"Um, hey."

The cat walked along the trail sniffing and eating a few treats. The cat stopped and sweetly meowed. Leslie slowly stuck out her hand at which the cat sniffed and nuzzled against it. Leslie petted the cat once and then twice. The third time the cat growled at swatted scratching her.

"Son of who knows what. Cat litters can have multiple fathers," Leslie said wincing.

Ben shuffled towards Leslie. Then cat meowed in a deep threatening voice. Ben and Leslie slowly stood and backed up climbing onto their bed. The cat followed and stood at the end of the bed growling. Then suddenly the cat ran under the bed as the couple's eyes dodged around the bed trying to spot the cat again. The cat ended up on the floor on the left side of the bed causing Ben and Leslie to move to the other side. The cat got into position to jump and the couple jumped off of the bed and ran into the bathroom shutting the door. Catching their breath the couple seemed to hear the cat on the other side of the door yowling.

"Oh my god."

"I guess it's going to take the cat a lot to get use to us."

"Leslie, the cat just chased us into our bathroom. We're being held hostage by our cat."

"Maybe the cat will get Stockholm Syndrome and like us."

"That's not how it works. The captive gets Stockholm Syndrome not the captor."

**African Dance**

_To Ben from Leslie_

Hey babe. I'll be home late tonight. I am taking an African dance class at the community center. Je, una waffles? That's Swahili for Do you have waffles? At least it is according to the internet. (Leslie knew how to ask for waffles in about 75 different languages.)

_To Leslie from Ben_

Okay. Have fun. (Ben's fingers hover over his phone unsure of how to respond.)

_To Ben from Leslie_

I just got out of class. We did a little getting to know you activity and the women did a special dance just for me. (It's a fertility dance but Leslie doesn't know that.) They were all very curious as to why I was there. I think I may have found a woman to befriend and invite to Galentines.

_To Leslie from Ben_

That's nice. I'll get dinner started. Want anything in particular?

_To Ben from Leslie_

There's some leftover meatloaf in the fridge we could do meatloaf sandwiches.

_To Leslie from Ben_

Sounds great.

**Cat Returning to the Adoption Agency**

"Babe, I think the time has come."

Leslie stopped eating the waffles Ben had made her and stared at her husband.

"The time for….you to make my second waffle? Or the time you are the cameraman husband to my Julia Roberts?"

"The time has come that we….return the cat," Ben gently said, adding, "But we should also do the cameraman thing."

"We can't just get rid of the cat. It's our cat. I adopted the cat on our behalf."

"It's not working out. We gave it a week. Yesterday, the cat chased us out of our own home. We had to wait outside for two hours until it got dark and the cat fell asleep. Then we had to sneak to our bedroom and shut the door."

"Maybe we should just give the house to the cat for like a few months or something….and then we try to come back home?"

Ben gave Leslie "the Ben look".

"Ok, it's time to return the cat," Leslie conceded.

"I think the cat will be okay if they find it a farm family or something like that. Where it has wide open spaces and no people."

"Yeah. Now we need to figure out how to lure it into the cat carrier."

"It's gonna be a long night."

**Watching All of the Episodes of Murphy Brown**

"Hey, I'm surprised you're still in bed."

It was 7:30 on a Saturday, the time Ben usually woke up on the weekends while Leslie had usually already gotten out of bed and was dressed. But this morning Leslie was still laying bed. Sometimes Ben might wake up to find Leslie back in bed but reading. So it was quite strange to wake up to her just lying in bed.

"You feeling okay?" Ben asked shifting to put his arm around Leslie.

"Yeah, I was just thinking about Murphy Brown. Ingrid DeForrest is like the Corky Sherwood to my Murphy Brown except they both get to exist in the same world. I like that world." (I know nothing of Murphy Brown really so I came up with this throught Wikipedia. Hope it works.)

Ben unsure of what to say just rubbed Leslie's back.

"Do you have anything planned today? Want to do anything special?"

Maybe we could make some waffles. Spend the day watching Murphy Brown. Make some brownies."

"Okay, sounds good. I'll start the waffle batter," Ben said kissing Leslie on the cheek before getting out of bed.

**Not Giving a Flying Fart (Or Denial Part 2)**

"Hey babe, what are you doing," a still sleepy Ben asked as he poured some coffee.

"I'm organizing our cookbooks and recipes. Oh, look a recipe for fajitas. I'm going to make fajitas tonight. Oh, we can have a Mexican themed dinner. The menu is all in my head right now. I'm gonna have to go to the store to get some cheeses, tortillas, those corn chips, margarita mix. And we'll watch Three Amigos tonight," Leslie vibrantly explained.

"Sounds good. You seem….well-adjusted this morning."

"No time like the present. I feel so behind on things, what with worrying about the recall and then being a….. bit unsettled that I lost. But it's a beautiful morning!"

Ben looked out the window to see 4 raccoons scavenging through the neighbor's garden under the dreary looking sky.

"Anyways, I realized I don't care anymore. I don't give flying fart. I really don't care anymore. Que Sera Sera. I'm gonna watch that movie today. See, if I was on city council still I wouldn't be able to spend time watching that movie. I'd be dealing with a slug infestation. I've already got so much done. I took an early morning walk, made scones-they should be done in about 5 minutes, I started rereading Harry Potter, I finally decided what color area rug we should get, and did some mending. Oh, and I started working on a quilt."

Ben looked at the clock on the microwave, it was 6:30 a.m. on a Saturday morning and Monday afternoon Leslie would packing up her city council office. It was going to be a long weekend that led to a long week.


	20. Did He Take His Shoes Off?

**Did He Take His Shoes Off?**

"Oh, honey that is fabulous!"

"Oh, mom," Leslie said as tears flowed from her eyes as her mother embraced her.

It was the kind of reaction Leslie did not expect from her mother but deeply desired.

"It's a lovely ring too," Marlene stated as she pulled back from the hug and held her daughter's hand examining it.

"Uh, so tell me every detail!" Marlene exclaimed as she motioned for Leslie to follow her as she lead them to the couch.

"Oh, where to start!" Leslie stated as she reached for a tissue.

"Well, you hinted that the two of you had spoke about marriage. So were expecting it? Was it a complete surprise? How did he do it? Was he nervous about it? Did he take his shoes off?" Marlene asked, her voice ripe with excitement but losing it by the end of her sentence. Leslie looked past it.

"Okay. So, yeah we talked about it before we decided to move in together but it seemed like a more far off thing. Like a few steps down the road. So it was a total surprise! I did not see it happening. Not now, anyways. Especially because Ben just got a job offer to run this guy in Florida's campaign for governor. We were supposed sign the lease on the house I found and move in together but then Ben got this amazing job offer so I thought our plans to move in together were on hold and everything seemed so up in the air. So I met the relator at the house to tell her that I had to back out of the lease. She leaves the room and I turn around. Ben is standing there. In a suit. "What are you doing here?" I asked him and….." Leslie took a deep breath, "Thinking about my future," Ben said.

"And he got down on one knee," Leslie said through tears. She dabbed her eyes with the tissue again.

"Oh, he got down on one knee. Perfect," Marlene exclaimed, "I just knew he was the one for you. Oh, I hoped."

"And then I made him wait."

"What?" Marlene asked shocked.

"Just because I wanted to remember everything. I didn't want it to happen too fast and it all be a blur later."

"Oh, Leslie," Marlene sighed.

"And then he asked and now I'M GETTING MARRIED. Ah, it was perfect."

"I am so happy for you."

"So have you made any plans yet?"

"Not really. Maybe we'll get married in the spring. I don't want to wait too long but I want to have enough time to plan things out."

"So have you thought about when you're going to get pregnant?"

"Mom, we're not even married yet," Leslie sighed a bit embarrassed.

"Listen, all I am going to say is that you don't have to be married to have kids."

"At least not at your age," Marlene said under her breath.

"So have you told Aunt Margaret yet?" Marlene said changing the subject.

"No, I haven't."

"Well, I happen to know that Joy is having dinner with her mom tonight. We could call Aunt Margaret's house right now," Marlene suggested with a knowing smirk.

"Yeah, we should call them," Leslie agreed with a knowing smirk on her own face as they both broke out in a devious laugh.

Bonus:

Later that evening Ben stopped by Marlene's house to have dinner with Leslie and her mom.

"Congratulations Ben. I was so surprised by the engagement. Especially since you didn't ask for my permission for Leslie's hand in marriage," Marlene said after opening the door and looking Ben straight in the eye.

"Uh, I…uh…..I…I…uh," Ben stuttered.

Marlene laughed, "Oh, I'm just messing with you! You didn't have to ask me permission. Oh, your face. You should've seen it!"

Marlene continued to laugh as she let Ben inside.


	21. Lady Talk

Lady Talk

"You look really happy and relaxed. Would Operation Secret Relationship have anything to do with that?" Ann stated in between bites of her salad. The two women were catching up over lunch on a bench outside city hall.

"Work is great, personal life great like these lady talks we have over lunch, I actually have a pretty terrific romantic life, albeit a secret one. Keeping things secret has it's challenges; the sneaking around and having to keep something you're happy about a secret is rough. But having a secret relationship is also kind of…..hot," Leslie said smiling.

"I had a secret relationship once. Billy Jvelinik. I was fourteen and he was my secret boyfriend. I wasn't allowed to date until I was sixteen. So we dated in secret. Basically I just lied a few times and said I was meeting my friends at the mall or the movies when I was really meeting him. We use to make out in front of the pretzel kiosk. To this day, mall pretzels make me feel….things. Anyways, he then broke up with me because he met a girl at the arcade, her parents owned it and he got a bunch of free tickets for the games. I was devastated but then like a week later a sophomore on the football team started flirting with me. He was really popular and had a car," Ann relayed, a bit starry eyed.

"So how is the secret relationship aspect doing it for ya?" Ann said wiggling her eyebrows.

"Oh, Ann," Leslie sighed but then giggled, "Well, sneaking around is kind of fun. It's… about quality over quantity. You don't really know when you're going to see each again. I'm just…..really enjoying it. It's kind of nice just keeping things between Ben and I without everyone else's comments and questions. Well, between Ben, me, and you. And April, well actually I think I was sneaky enough to detour April from finding out the truth," Leslie said smiling but soon her smile faltered into a frown.

"What?"

"I just…..don't want to think about how it could all blow up in my face, what I'm risking, or how there's an expiration date to our relationship. I'm putting my career and reputation on the line for fun, feeling good, a cute guy that is so nice, and amazing sexy times. I mean, technically, I'm in a sex scandal."

"It's okay. Yes, you are risking those things. But the only thing you and Ben are doing wrong is having a relationship. But your secret relationship is nothing like anything that douche Dexhart would be involved in, there's no corruption or fraud, nothing like that. You've spent your entire life doing for others so give yourself a break and do something that makes you happy. Do you always want to wonder what if…what if you had taken a chance with Ben….what could've happened?"

"You're right, you wise courageous lioness. If I don't take this risk with Ben I'm gonna regret it."

"So back to the girl talk. You've really been enjoying yourself, huh?" Ann wiggled her eyebrows again.

"Yeah, yup. I mean it was worthy of being documented."

"Hence the imovie."

"Yup."

"So, spill the details," Ann encouraged. Leslie was usually rather reserved when it came to talking about sex but Ann could tell by the look on Leslie's face that she wanted to talk. She just needed a little encouragement.

"Remember that book I checked out at the library that one time. Well, not a problem. No problemo."

"Mmmmm. Wow."

"You know how," Leslie began, "women don't like it to last too long?"

"No."

"Well, I've discovered sometimes I do want it to last long. And then it does. Or it can be quick….. and to the point. " Leslie gushed through a whisper and Ann smiled widely over how her friend was radiating happiness.

"And I've realized something. When….uh…..sexy times are happening I'm not thinking about my grocery list, or waffles, Sam Waterson, Kennedy's 1961 Inaugural Speech, what to do about the raccoon problem, the parks budget, actually I did think about the Parks budget a few times and all the times Ben said no to me. But I'm not thinking about mulch, sod, drainage, or what to do about Israel."

"Ok, I get it. What about the other nonbibical aspects?" Ann interrupted. Ann had forgotten that while Leslie needed some encouragement to open up and discuss sex, that once you got Leslie loosened up to talk about the "scandalous" topic it was hard to get her to be quiet about the topic. Also, Leslie past sexual experiences really bummed her out.

"You know how I normally am so nervous about doing and saying something embarrassing?"

"Yeah," Ann shook her head yes wondering what new embarrassing thing Leslie had done.

"Well, I haven't been so worried about it. I think it comes from knowing each other almost a year before anything happened. It just puts me at ease. Also, on the occasions that I do say or do something awkward or embarrassing Ben never makes me feel bad about it. He actually makes me feel good about it and laugh about it. Then, like twenty minutes later he's the one to do or say something embarrassing. And a lot of things other guys find boring or think is embarrassing that I like; like government, politics, historical documentaries, having a list of Leslie's Powerful Women, Ben also likes. We have so much stuff in common. It just makes everything so much easier. But not boring easy. It's just nice to have things in common. And I know we're in the bubble this early on and we haven't had to deal with real relationship drama and the fact the our relationship is a scandal and against the rules but….now I'm sad," Leslie muttered.

"Go back to the good, happy stuff!" Ann suggested.

"Oh my god. Ann you have to make sure to pay close attention to Ben's butt next time you see him. It is so cute. He's such a tiny man but tall but not too tall but anyways, promise me you'll look at his butt so we can discuss it in detail next time?" Leslie "requested" looking pointedly at Ann.

"Uh….okay…..Will do," Ann muttered uncomfortably.


	22. SoUm

"So….um…."

"So…um…..do we need to…to…ah…talk about…what happened earlier?" Ben asked from his place in bed beside Leslie.

Leslie narrowed her eyes trying to figure out what her husband was stuttering about as they had already spoken at length about the disastrous "Are You Better Off" forum which had caused the night to end with pizza, brownies and wine, cuddling, and watching A League of Their Own.

"Oh…..you mean…Andy…..why Andy busted into the meeting?" Leslie asked nodding in understanding.

"Yeah."

"Well, I am not pregnant. I haven't missed a pill or a period. I've only forgotten to take the pill once, for one day, that day a few years ago. Other than that one incident I take it every day at the same time every day. I'm not due to go off the pill yet for several months according to our plan. Do you need to review our binder? I have no idea why Andy is bursting into town meetings asking me if I am pregnant. And why Ann was with him?" Leslie pondered scrunching up her face in confusion.

"Or why he's doing it dressed as Bert Macklin?"

"Well, I called Ann but she didn't have time to talk to me. Something about an upset patient that has to have surgery. Anyways, she only had time to tell me that Andy found the test at Ron's cabin from the day we were all there planning Founder's Day. So we know he found a pregnancy test and is trying to figure out who is pregnant. So this mystery requires Bert Macklin. And Ann is wanting to get pregnant but she isn't yet so she wants to know who it is because that is supposed to be her thing and someone is infringing on her territory. Who is infringing on her territory?" Leslie shouted, "I mean…uh….so now the question is…who is pregnant?'

"And how did Andy find it? Was he going through the trash? He does that a lot. I've talked to him out it. I guess I didn't make an impact."

"Yeah. Ew."

"Well, I guess we'll definitely find out in nine months. Goodnight," Ben concluded as he gave Leslie a kiss on the lips and turned off his bedside lamp.

After a few minutes of silence just as Ben was starting to fall asleep Leslie spoke up.

"What if it's April that's pregnant? They're still so young and I had to open up a bottle of childproof Advil for Andy yesterday.

"Wouldn't that have been the first person that Andy asked?" Ben offered.

"I don't know if you've noticed but April really likes to lie. So what if she's pregnant? She might need me. I should call her."

"Leslie," Ben stated putting his hand over Leslie's phone that she was now holding in her hands, "It's after midnight.

"But what if she is?"

"Well,….good lord. They don't even eat the crust on sandwiches."

"Crust is gross," Leslie said in disgust.

"You'll have to be the one to make our kids eat their crust one day."

"Okay," Ben agreed with a small smile.

Leslie sighed," I feel like so much is changing. Ann wants to have a baby soon which is ahead of the schedule I made for us. We were supposed to get pregnant around the same time so our kids would be the same age and would grow up together and fall in love and get married. Maybe we should move our plan up…Well, I guess our plan isn't that far off and our kids will still be close enough in age for them to become best friends that fall in love with each other."

"Well, you certainly have our future child's life figured out. Are arranged marriages common in Pawnee?" Ben said with a laugh.

"I plan everything Ben. Everything," Leslie said with a smile.

"Oh my god….what if Mona Lisa Saperstein is pregnant?" Ben said suddenly sitting up.

"No…..no….no. That kind of evil can't happen."

As sleep was once again about to envelop Ben, Leslie spoke up, "What if it's Donna?"

"No, it can't be Donna," both Ben and Leslie said at the same time.

"Goodnight," they both said and gave each other a kiss.

"What if it is Ann but she didn't want to tell anyone, including me?"

"I'm sure you would be the first person Ann would tell."

"You're right. How could I ever question or doubt sweet sweet kangaroo like Ann? I have broken a covenant of friendship," Leslie began babbling as tears watered her eyes.

"Leslie, it was a legitimate question okay. Don't beat yourself up over it. You should get some sleep. You can talk to Ann in the morning."

"You're right."

"Hey, if the test was found at Ron's cabin then wouldn't it have to be Diane's? I mean why would you or Ann or one of the other women at our gathering take a pregnancy test at Ron's cabin. They'd take it at home. But Diane on the other hand…."

"Yes! Mystery solved! Diane is the pregnant mystery woman! Oh my god, how do you think Ron reacted? I have to call Ron and Diane and congratulate them."

"No. They don't know that you know. And this is purely speculation."

"Right. They don't know that we know what they know. Maybe Diane hasn't even told Ron yet. So I have to wait until Ron tells me. Ahhhhh, I hate waiting! Ben! Who knows when Ron will tell me? He wouldn't even tell me his birthday! I had to sneakily investigate and find it out. Knowing Ron he'll probably have the baby grow up and tell me. I'll be at the permits desk and find out that it's Ron's kid in front of me that wants a fishing permit."

"Do you really think Ron is going to teach his child to follow the law and get a fishing permit?"

"No."

"Here's what I'll do: I find out what day Diane usually does her grocery shopping. Then I casually bump into her. We catch up. She tells me she's pregnant."

"Sounds like a plan. Goodnight Leslie."

"Yeah, I have to start brainstorming what gift we should get them for their baby shower. Should I throw them a baby shower? Yes, of course I should. An employee or boss always throws their coworker a baby shower. I have so many ideas. I have a Pinterest board on baby showers and I haven't even known anyone that was going to have a baby since I joined Pinterest. I mean everyone I know from growing up has kids in middle school for the most part. And now I finally get to use it for Diane and Ron's baby shower and Ann's that will surely come soon I have so much to plan. I'm gonna make a new binder and get all of my old baby shower binders out of the attic I have so much to do…"

Ben was already deep asleep.


	23. A Confusing Day Full of Revelation

_Insights into Chris and Ben's friendship and Chris's thought process during The Trial of Leslie Knope._

**A Confusing Day Full of Revelation**

Chris stood before his bedroom mirror as he tied his tie. He did this act every morning. His father had taught him how. He wasn't automatically good at it but trying was never a problem for Chris. He had always taken pride in his appearance. Years of his mother and grandmother reminding him to tuck in his shirt and using their spit to tamper down a stray hair had rubbed off on him. So Chris had practiced tying his tie over and over again until he could do it without a second thought. He still remembers the pride his father showed when he had demonstrated tying his tie by himself for the first time. But this morning Chris was having trouble. His hands seemed to not be working. After the fourth attempt he took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Then he tried again and got it.

"Today is not going to be a good day," Chris thought as he reached for his tall glass of wheat grass.

Today he was putting "his two best friends" on trial. He had to be "Chris the Boss", "Chris the Decider", "Chris the Bad Guy". And he had a feeling he would have to wear these hats, not just today, but he would become very familiar with it from here on out. It was change and he was not fond of change. He could do it. He could be authoritative when needed but he wasn't very comfortable with it.

It was also a confusing day. He had to put one half of his dynamic duo on trial; his positive local government compatriot, a hard worker, and a terrific public servant. And tomorrow, tomorrow, he had to put his best friend, his colleague, his partner, his subordinate on trial.

At first Chris was shocked to be told that Ben Wyatt had been involved in a secret scandalous relationship with Leslie Knope. Of course, Ben had told him that he was interested in a fellow local government employee. But the conversation had been casual, over dinner, and had only happened because he had pressed Ben after bringing up dating, or so he had thought.

_They had just given a very friendly waitress their order. It was a Friday night and the two men were celebrating the end of a long week over dinner. They had eaten countless meals together. It was almost always the same. Waitresses always thought that Chris was flirting with them and one look into his blue eyes made them flirt (people often thought Chris was flirting because of his extreme friendliness) and his unique specific complicated ordering style was grating and would sometimes make the waitresses back off unless they thought his blue eyes were worth the hassle. _

_This time the waitress thought Chris was flirting with her and she was flirting back. _

_"So….. you….ah…. seeing anyone?" Ben asked Chris._

_"No, well, I did have my eye on a woman that works at the local gym, in Eagleton. Pawnee doesn't have any gym. Though there are a few people that meet behind the dumpster at Walmart to do some aerobics. Anyway, I was chatting with her, Amanda Singletary, and I found out she's a lawyer. So that ends right there."_

_"Good idea. Been there."_

_"All us accountants have. Lawyers and accountants are like a low carb diet and bread. We don't mix."_

_"So you have your eye on anyone Ben?"_

_"Oh, uh no. No. No. Not really. No," Ben stuttered looking around nervously._

_"Really? I know you better than that. Spill."_

_"Well, I…..uh…..I might kind of like someone. Uh….not a….big deal or…..anything…"_

_"Who? Do I know her?" Chris eagerly smiled. _

_"Oh, just someone. A woman."_

_"As I've said many times Ben, you have to make a move. Take a chance, Buddy!"_

_"Well, you see…uh…..she works…in local government, for the city…so…"_

_"….Oh. That does present a problem as you are her boss. We oversee every department. But you said it's nothing major so…you'll move on…You just need to put yourself out there. Plenty of fish in the sea. Meet people. My offer still stands to join my triathlon club or healthy vegan cooking online supper club. We Skype while we eat. There aren't enough people in the area, or even southern Indiana to form an actual club so we Skype. Did you know that only 0.0000001% of people in Pawnee are vegan, 0.0000003 are vegetarian, and 0.0000004 are pescatarian?"_

_"No thank you. But….uh…..yeah…I'll just get over it…I didn't really think anything would happen…..cause…of…stuff. But….uh people that work together do….date…..so…..how does that work? Like…. Theresa and Paul up in Indy?"_

_"Well, typically in government if the employees are low level and upfront with their relationship there is no problem. Subordinate and Superior is absolutely forbidden. That puts people in the line of favoritism, corruption…..It just makes for sticky situations. And in a job like yours and mine, it would be impossible as we oversee every department, hire and fire, prepare the budget, and advise city council. It's an important rule for government to have. We work for the tax papers and it is our responsibility and privilege to work for them so we have to do our part to be transparent and protect them."_

_Chris stood and patted Ben on the back and asked if he wanted to jog around the block while they waited for their food to come. Ben said no and just sat and stared at the table._

Now in hindsight Chris realized that Ben was rather distracted and despondent for the rest of the evening. Clearly, Ben didn't think just moving on from the crush would be easy. It was just a week after that when Chris tried to set Ben up on a date. It was something Chris had previously done many times and just about every time Ben seemed less than thrilled. "He's just shy," Chris had thought to himself. Ben wasn't one to put himself out there and he had no game and went into "human disaster" mode in many social situations so Chris took it upon himself to be Ben's "emotional guardian" of sorts. Chris got to thinking that it would be a great time for Ben to meet someone. He was finally living in one place so he had the time and opportunity to devote to a relationship. Ben was a great guy and Chris just needed to find him a great girl and then this mystery local government woman would be a distant memory. Chris was racking his brain to find a suitable woman for Ben, which was difficult because Ben was terrific. Most of Ben's past relationships had always fizzled out due to his job responsibilities. He had never been able to find a woman that was comfortable with starting a long distance relationship. She had to be independent and confident to comfortably embark on that type of relationship. And frankly, Chris didn't really think that any of Ben's exes deserved him. Too many times they were to demanding, selfish, and inflexible. They just seemed to lack something. When Chris and Ben had walked out of a meeting at the county commissioner's office a light went off. Cindy Miller. She was smart, tall, and brunette. Just Ben's type. And they had a lot in common. They both worked in government! It seemed like Ben did not want to go out on a date with Cindy Miller. So Chris did everything he could to encourage it. After Ben's date with Cindy Miller he called Ben to see how it went, "Oh, we didn't really hit it off so I don't think we'll go out again," Ben had explained. Chris then offered to be on the lookout for another woman he could set up Ben with. Ben made Chris promise to not do so. Now Chris understood why.

It was seven, eight months later that Chris sat down at his desk before Ben and Leslie. They seemed nervous. They each took a breath, looked at each other and nodded their heads ever so slightly.

"We need to tell you something." And with that it seemed like the world fell of it's axis.

Ben Wyatt and Leslie Knope, his two wonderful, hardworking, intelligent, and dedicated government employees were involved in a scandal. A sex scandal. People involved in sex scandals got suspended or fired and received shame and ridicule. Ben Wyatt and Leslie Knope were not those type of people. Leslie had one hundred idea binders. Ben put his clothes in order by color. It was shocking and confusing. All Chris heard was loud ice cream truck music. Clarity reached his brain and Chris knew what he had to do. An ethics trial would have to be conducted. Chris hoped nothing would be found and he could dole out suspensions, the lightest consequence. But proceeding over an ethics trial was the last thing he wanted to do. He deeply respected both Ben and Leslie. He had known Ben for a dozen years; car trips, being outsiders in a new town, lonely birthdays on the road, late nights, break ups, being greeted by pitchforks, cows out numbering people. They had been through so much together and Chris was a bit hurt that Ben had not confided in him. He supposed it was due to Chris technically being Ben's superior. Even in their state auditor jobs Chris had been Ben's superior. It was due to seniority. This they both knew. It had never been a problem between them in the past. Their partnership had worked out great and happened rather seamlessly. While Ben was the better accountant Chris was better at explaining budgeting to others. Chris was a people person and Ben had little interest in it. Chris was the good cop and Ben was the bad cop. Their partnership was so effortless that Chris had never had to pull the boss card when it came to Ben. Or maybe he and Ben weren't as close as Chris thought they were. Ben had been hard to get to know and he was a rather private person. But after a dozen years of knowing one another and most of those years spent traveling side by side and being strangers to all, well how could you not be true friends after that?

Chris was also confused that Ben would risk so much; his job, his reputation, and the future of his career for…..a woman. Ben was steady and practical. He was a realist. He wasn't prone to grand displays of romance or taking a risk in his personal life. But Chris didn't know pre Ice Town Ben. Pre Ice Town Ben was a romantic. He was practical but he was an idealist. He went big-he didn't go home.

_It was a Friday that Ben and Leslie had confessed. It was a Sunday night when Ben knocked on Chris's door. _

_"Ben."_

_"Hey. I just wanted to come as Ben the friend and say to Chris the friend that I'm sorry. I'm sorry for the position I put you in. I'm sorry that this is awkward. I'm sorry that I lied to you- my friend. If I was having a secret scandalous relationship I would ordinarily tell you. But I couldn't because you are also my boss. So as a friend I just wanted to apologize for what Ben the employee, Ben the partner did."_

_"I understand. I really do. What I don't understand is why you would put so much at risk? It just isn't like you."_

_Ben seemed deep in thought, "I just had too. I felt like if I didn't I would regret it. I'd wonder what if. I tried not to. But I just…..I had too. Goodnight." _

_"Goodnight."_

_Chris then felt the need to go on a nighttime jog to clear his head but his thoughts were consumed with why Ben had felt compelled to enter into a scandal. Was the relationship worth the scandal? That's when the answer struck Chris, right there on the corner of Elm and 5__th__ Avenue as Chris came to a stop. Ben was in love. He had to be or he wouldn't risk everything. And Leslie must be in love as well or she wouldn't risk everything. It was just so unlike them. _

It was almost 4:00 when Ben sheepishly asked Chris for a special meeting with the ethics committee. A sick feeling arose in Chris's stomach and before he gave an answer another member of the committee agreed. Ben took all responsibility and resigned despite Chris's protest. Ben had made up his mind. Now only one questioned remained in Chris's mind.

"Was all of this, all of the sneaking around and scandal, losing your job, was it worth it?

"Yes, it was because I love Leslie and I don't want to hide the way I feel about her anymore. So yeah, it was worth it because I'm in love Leslie Knope"

Chris had always been a sucker for love. He was sad for his friend's career but he was happy for his friend's personal life. So was Leslie Knope worthy of being Ben's girlfriend? Well, she wasn't a tall brunette. That was surprising. But she was hard working, intelligent, generous, independent, and confident. She could certainly keep Ben on his toes. They were his dynamic duo, which now made Chris baffled at how clueless he had been. They were a great match. It's almost as if someone had found all of their compatible qualities and then set them up.

Chris knew Leslie was a great woman but the fact that Ben had made such a huge sacrifice for her told Chris that this most recent turn of events would work out for Ben and Leslie. Everything would be okay. So Chris, as Ben's emotional guardian, decided to help out his friend a little.

"And more importantly, you're the only person I've ever met who is worthy of being Ben's girlfriend," Chris told Leslie.

"I hope that's true."

"You know, the meeting that Ben and I had, it's on the record. You should take a look at the last page of the transcript."

And with that Chris was off for a post-trial run. It had been a very stressful day but he knew tomorrow would be much better.

_Fun fact: I got the idea to write a list of 10 reasons that made Chris believe Ben deserved someone great. So I began writing this story to put the list into it. But the list didn't even make it in as I couldn't figure out where to put it and the list wasn't that great._


	24. Warning Label

_The first time I posted this chapter it didn't post correctly. Let's try again!_

Warning Label

Leslie sat crossed legged next to Ben in bed as she rapidly tapped her fingers against her knee.

"Leslie?" Ben asked, his voice laced with concern.

"Hmm? Oh, I just...I'm like...really excited right now," Leslie said making Ben smile. Leslie was 12 weeks pregnant now and Ben's blood pressure was no longer rising every time triplets was mentioned.

"I...we're having...babies...three. Our own little humans that belong to us. That we get to take care of and share experiences with and...An instant family. We don't really have time to have three kids so having three at once is perfect! And of course we should have more than one or two kids because we're amazing! And our kids are going to be amazing! We should probably have more kids after this set. We should start our own dynasty like the Kennedys or the Roosevelts or the Bushes."

That statement made Ben's blood pressure rise.

"I just wish I were holding our babies right now."

The image of Leslie holding their three babies entered Ben's mind. That image made his blood pressure return to normal as he looked at her like she was the most amazing and beautiful person in the world.

"Nine months. Uh, that's like forever. I wish I had a faster gestation period, like an animal that has a really fast gestation period. I'm gonna google that."

"You have the rest of your long human gestation period to google that so why don't you try to get some sleep. You are sleeping for...four now," Ben implored.

"Okay," Leslie said with a smile and a kiss.

_Five Hours later_

"Ben. Ben. Ben."

"What. What. What's wrong?" Ben said, startled, and patting the covers trying to find Leslie in the dark room just as Leslie turned on her bedside lamp, temporarily blinding Ben as he found Leslie sitting up against the headboard.

"I should've known I was going to have triplets."

"What?"

"Ann set me up on a blind date with an MRI tech and he gave me a scan. He was really weird and arrogant and talked about giving our dinner rolls an MRI but he said something about how I have an...amble uterus."

Leslie snapped her fingers, "No, his exact words were "industrial sized oven and I could have triplets...triplets...triplets Ben. He said I could have triplets right off the bat. And I am. He was right! We decide to start trying, a month later we decided to put our baby plans on hold, then we don't use any birth control a few times- because you're impatient. And bam- I get pregnant with triplets!"

The last statement earned a look from Ben. It had been Leslie's impatience, not his, for the most part, that had caused a few slip ups in their birth control.

Leslie bypassed Ben's protest and continued, "At the time I thought he was a creep. I was a smidge upset with Ann for setting me up with a creep she barely knew because she didn't want to set me up with her lawyer friend who was her backup guy. But that guy was telling me the future and Ann, beautiful Ann, was facilitating it. I should call Ann and thank her. Should I find that creep and tell him he was right? I don't really want to. Is that okay? I mean I ended the date but then I had to give him a ride and pick up his son. That was the worst."

Leslie took a deep breath in and out.

"He wanted to scan bread?"Ben asked his eyes finally adjusting to the light as he sat against the headboard.

"That is not the key issue."

"Yeah. It's 4:30 in the morning. Don't call Ann now. This guy seems like a creep. Hearing stories about your dating life just bums me out. How did so many jerks find you? And then continue to be terrible when with an amazing person? But it also makes me happy that all those guys were jerks because then I found you...with your industrial sized going out of business sale lady parts," Ben said causing Leslie to lean over and kiss Ben's smiling lips and then bringing his arm to her shoulders so they could cuddle from their spot.

"It's almost time to wake up. I'm not gonna be able to go to sleep...and I know you won't. It's just light enough for the raccoons to go back in the shadows. You want to go for a walk and then make breakfast?"

"Sounds great."

"You know, you probably should've come with a warning label. Caution: Going Out Of Business Sale, Industrial Sized Oven, Three for the Price of Three," Ben laughed as Leslie tossed her pillow at him.


	25. Every Problem Has A Solution

_Laundry is never easy when you have triplets. For Leslie Knope and her boys that means sewing their name into their underwear. But at what age does that stop?_

**Every Problem Has a Solution**

**Nine Years Old:**

"Boys, come help me with your laundry," Leslie shouted.

"Okay," both boys agreed at the same time putting down the paper airplanes they were flying down the staircase and rambunctiously made their way to their mom in the living room.

"You two, fold your underwear. By the time we finish this it'll be time to skype Dad in Pawnee."

Wesley and Stephen started grabbing underwear from the large pile. There must've been thirty pairs. With three young kids laundry piled up quickly in the Knope-Wyatt household. With Ben now a popular senator and known as that guy with "all those kids" they had once been approached to be the spokes-family for a detergent company. They of course said no. Though sometimes Ben regretted it as they would've gotten a lifetime supply of detergent. And they went through a lot of detergent. A lot.

Leslie's own thoughts about detergent were interrupted, as usual, by fighting children.

"Let go. That's mine!"

"No, that's mine!"

"Give it."

"You give it."

"Boys. Boys. No arguing."

"What is the problem? Pick a number between 1 and 500 and whoever is closest will explain first." (The pic a number to choose who goes first had been Ben's idea. It was brilliant and Leslie was still sore that he had come up with it first.)

"7," Stephen shouted.

"251," Wesley countered.

"My number was 231. Wesley, you may explain first."

"We both grabbed the Batman underwear at the same time to fold. We're each folding our own underwear so Stephen should've given that pair to me to fold. But he says it is his. It's mine. I have Batman underwear."

"Stephen, you may counter."

"I have Batman underwear."

"Boys. I don't know why you are fighting. You both have Batman underwear."

"So is this pair mine or Stephen's?"

"It belongs to you both."

"How?"

"We went to the store to buy underwear. You both wanted the Batman underwear. I tried to get you both to pick a different kind so you wouldn't argue over what pair belongs to whom. But neither of you budged. So I bought you both Batman underwear. As I've basically had to do with all three of you since you were born. Buy three of everything; 3 high chairs, 3 stuff zebras, 3 swords, 3 Batman costumes, 3 globes, 3 capes, 3 pumpkins, and the list goes on and on. Three of everything, especially when it comes to Batman. When we started potty training you three we had to buy Sonia Batman underwear too because you both got Batman underwear. And they only make boy Batman underwear. It really confused the preschool teacher. She gave us pamphlets and a business card for a psychologist. Anyways, some stuff we can label or color code what belongs to whom. But you two sleep in the same room, use the same hamper, your laundry is done together. Thus, the underwear you are fighting about belongs to you both."

"So we wear the same underwear?" Wesley exclaimed, his face showing his disgust.

"You always have. Your entire life."

"Ew."

"What's the problem?"

"Stephen, it's gross that we wear the same underwear. How do you not find that gross?"

"We're brothers. We share."

"Mom, I don't want to wear the same underwear as Stephen."

"Do either of you want to give up the Batman underwear?"

"No!" both boys shouted.

"Then, there is no solution."

"There's gotta be a solution. You and dad always say there is a solution to every problem."

"Ben did say that was going to come back to haunt us. I shouldn't have stitched that on all those pillows and pictures," Leslie said under her breath.

"Oh, I've got it. We could just divide all the underwear in half and I could sew names into your underwear."

"Fine. That works."

Another fight solved.

**13 Years Old**

"Dude, my hands are full, will you grab my shin guards from my bag? They're right on top," Wesley asked as he tried to hold both heavy netted bags full of soccer balls

"Sure," Billy Pressman stated.

"Oh, man! Your name is sewn into your underwear!" Billy Pressman the team goalie loudly exclaimed through a fit of laughter as he held said underwear by a pencil for all to see.

"I said I needed my shin guards. Not my underwear!" Wesley said dropping the bags and trying to snatch back his underwear, "Come on! Give it back," Wesley pleaded as Billy held the underwear as high as his six foot self could, which was clearly over Wesley's head.

"What's going on?" Stephen scowled as he made eye contact with the goalie.

"Actually, you could be of some help right now. Question. Is your name also sewn into your underwear?"

"Yes, yes it is," Stephen said proudly with his chest puffed out and his hands on his hips.

"Of course it is. I bet your entire nerd family has their name on their underwear," Billy laughed.

"Number one, I do not know the status of names on underwear for every member of the family. Number two, yes my brother and I have our name on our underwear. But you would as well if you were a multiple. Three, I am not ashamed my mother is excellent at sewing. And yes, perhaps she got a little carried away with sewing our names on things; from our underwear, to socks, to Wesley's eye glass cleaning cloth and he's the only one with glasses, to our pillowcases."

"A little carried away," Wesley interrupted, "Our mittens have our names on them. And we have totally different pairs."

"Fourth, give our mom a needle and thread and she could cross stitch your portrait in fifteen minutes. And fifthly, you might wanna hand over my brother's underwear before I tell everyone that you went into his bag and I caught you holding his underwear, without the pencil cause I'm about to break that pencil and embarrass you."

Billy lurched the pencil forward causing the underwear to fall at Stephen's feet.

"Excellent stitch work," Stephen stated as he picked up the underwear, his eyes never leaving Billy.

Wesley then moved forward and snatched his underwear back from his brother, burying it in his bag.

**18 Years Old**

The Knope Wyatt household was full of tears these days. Mostly from Leslie, some from Ben, and even some from the triplets. Though Leslie was downright blubbering 98% of the time. Anything could set her off; walking by the kid's bedrooms, seeing Stephen's dirty socks by the front door, the last movie they watched as a family together on Grizzle Media or the last dvd they watched together on their ancient dvd player that was on it's last legs, (that had really set Ben off as it was their last time marathoning Star Wars as a family) buying school supplies, school paperwork, and the last ice cream sundaes they were going to be eating in an hour after packing was done, to the last waffle breakfast they would eat together at JJ's Diner before they drove their three monsters to their first day of college at Leslie's alma mater.

"Stephen, you really have to fold your clothes like I'm showing you. Otherwise, you waste space in your suitcase and they'll get all wrinkly," Ben emphasized as he refolded everything Stephen had put in his suitcase.

"You've showed me so many times Dad. I still don't get it. I guess I'll never work at the Pawnee Mall. Good news is that there are only a few dozen left in the country. But show me again. I'm watching."

"Well, Pawneeans are still big on mall shopping. They haven't really discovered online shopping yet. And they just opened a Vintage Cassettes store. I can't believe cassettes are in right now," Ben thought aloud as he demonstrated his folding technique.

Wesley rolled his eyes. He knew his brother had no interest in folding his own clothes. He just wanted their dad to do it. Their mom did the same thing.

"How's the folding going boys?" Leslie said sticking her head through the door.

"Great," Wesley said. He had mastered folding years ago.

"Oh, I almost forgot I got you both new underwear. I sewed your names on them using your new college colors!" Leslie cheerfully exclaimed as she passed out the new underwear. Now I used your current size. That's good right? Still enough room? Having enough room is important you don't want any chaffing."

Wesley rolled his eyes while Stephen thought nothing of their mother's personal remarks.

"Names on socks too! I also embroidered the school mascot on about 5 pairs of each of your socks."

"Mom, you think of everything!" Stephen said smiling.

"Mom, we're going away to college. And yeah we're sharing a dorm but we'll be able to do our own individual laundry so you really don't need to sew our names on our underwear and socks anymore. You have enough work to do without sewing our names on everything."

"I will never be too busy for my boys."

"Besides, do you really think Stephen's not going to "borrow your clothes" and not con you into doing his own laundry?" Leslie whispered to Wesley.

"Yeah, that's true. Stephen would major in con artist if he could." Wesley muttered back causing his mom to lightly elbow him though her face held a smile.

"Alright I'm gonna go check on Sonia. She wouldn't let me fold any of her stuff earlier. Ah, I can't believe my babies are going to college. I'm okay," Leslie said through tears as she grabbed a handful of what already looked like used tissues out of the fanny pack around her waist, which was full of tissues.

"And Ann told me back in 2011 to get rid of my fanny packs. Good thing I didn't and they're back in now. Convenient for storing large amounts of tissues," Leslie muttered through more tears.

Of course, fanny packs may be in now but Leslie's fanny pack was neon yellow, which was not in style, and had the now grainy image of New Kids on the Block, which was not in.


	26. The Question Game

_Happens after Soulmates and before Road Trip_

**The Question Game**

It was Friday night and already nine o'clock. Leslie had gone to a city council meeting and ran into Chris and Ben. Chris had promptly invited Leslie to dine with himself and Ben. Leslie wanted to say yes to the invitation, as it would allow her to spend time with Ben. But she also wanted to say no, as not spending time with him would help her get over her crush. Since she discovered that Ben had wanted to ask her out, but couldn't as they worked together, Leslie was on a rollercoaster of emotions. It felt great to be around Ben because she liked him and she knew that he liked her back. But it also bummed her out because they weren't allowed to date. It was also awkward because it was this unspoken but understood thing between them. And Chris, the obstacle between them, would literally between them. But Chris was hard to say no to, so dinner it was. He was now jogging while Ben and Leslie waited for the food to arrive.

"That was grossest city council meeting I have ever been to," Leslie stated as she sat down at her favorite booth in JJ's Diner.

The city council meeting had ended in disgust when a man had pulled down his pants to show the gross devastating disfiguring disease he claimed to have gotten from the Pawnee Public Pool's locker room. He was alternating between the cobra and planking and pushups, all naked, on the locker room floor. He wanted the city to pay his doctor bills. Unfortunately, there was a camera recording the meeting, the man was front and center, a perfectly horrible position for a camera close up, and the video was being projected on a large screen for all to see.

"Mine as well. And that includes a time when Chris and I were in Fieldville where the cows outnumber the people 750 to 1. There's only about 120 people in the town….. So Chris and I have to go to this city council meeting. By the way the councilors were a rancher that dressed like a cowboy from a John Wayne movie, a volunteer policeman, a guy retired from the navy, and a local Native American man. I was the only person in town that noticed it was like walking into The Village People. So this farmer was having a land and cattle dispute with the rancher city councilor and the farmer brought this cow that was at the center of the dispute to the meeting. Well, the cow was pregnant and gave birth to triplets during the meeting. Then they fought over the cow and the calves. The farmer claimed that the rancher's cow had gotten his cow pregnant so they continued to fight over custody…of the cows. There was even a paternity test done at one point."

"Wow. That is some story. Crazy," Leslie cackled.

Ben sighed in relief. That was like, his only good story.

"Oh my gosh, I am starving. I can't believe JJ's is so swamped this late at night. Ok distract me, let's play a game. I ask a question and then you answer," Leslie explained.

She was feeling the way a girl feels when the boy she likes- likes her back. It is a dangerous liberating feeling that makes one prone to spontaneity and bravery.

"Ok," Ben agreed.

"1. Favorite president?"

"FDR."

"Me too!"

"2. Favorite one term president?"

"Carter."

"Agreed."

"3. What was your college major?"

"I double majored in accounting and public administration with a minor in economics. I got my CPA and Master's Degree in budgeting and auditing. What about you?"

"I double majored in history and public administration with a minor in political science. I got a master's degree in recreation and tourism.

"3. Favorite past first lady? Both of us on the count of four."

"Wait, on four?"

"Yeah. Oh right, I forgot that's a Pawnee thing. We go on four."

"Oh, ok."

"One. Two. Three. Four"

"Eleanor Roosevelt of course, but Hillary Clinton is a close second," both said at the exact same time with a smile as wide as the Mississippi.

"4. Cats or dogs?"

"Um, I kinda like both. Cats seem capable of doing their own thing which is nice. And dogs are man's best friend but some dogs are too much with their slobbering and attacking people."

"Good points."

"5. Opinion on turtles?"

"Turtles. Um, they're kind of…weird…I guess."

"They're condescending," Leslie vocalized before being startled by Chris who reappeared at the table fresh from his run. She could still smell his cologne despite the many miles he had jogged that day. It was disgusting. The fact that he didn't sweat not the cologne.

"Well, I just hate to eat this late. It's not healthy. However, eating is very important. So I'll just stay up late. Though sleep is also very important. Perhaps I'll get in some extra jogging. I'd go to the gym but gyms in this town on Fridays are only open from 10-11 a.m. Quite peculiar. Can I interest you both in a jog, a long walk, boggle?" Chris rambled on gradually removing Leslie and Ben from their respective cloud of distraction, a place where they only reveled in the feeling of being with each other.


End file.
